Joginder Paul The Writerly Writer Writer in Context Series

This book is a comprehensive volume on the life and works of Joginder Paul, a well-known Urdu fiction writer and thinker. It presents a selection from the writer?s oeuvre ? a few of his short stories, extracts from his long fiction, samples of his micro-fiction, personal reminiscences, and some of his incisive critical essays written in Urdu as well as in English that lay out his ideas on the role of the writer and the art of writing. The volume also contextualises his work within the Urdu literary tradition and beyond through some critical essays on him from across time and geography. It situates Paul as a notable fiction writer and an essayist who broke convention in his writing and crafted his own individual style. It shows how he was received in Urdu while also placing him as an important creative voice within a larger pan-Indian literary context.

The book also focuses on Paul?s efforts to effect a change in how fiction should be perceived, particularly by his readers who he considered the most important ally-participant in his effort to create stories. This volume will help to evolve a deeper understanding of the thematic subtleties in his fiction, as well as the critical perspectives he offers in his non-fiction.

Part of the Writer in Context series, this book will be indispensable to scholars and researchers in literature, history, sociology, language and creative writing, Partition studies, translation studies, Indian writings, Urdu literature, postcolonial studies, and South Asian Studies.

Introduction

Chandana Dutta

SECTION I

IMAGING UNIVERSES: FICTION BY JOGINDER PAUL

a. Traversing Creative Universes: Selected Short Stories

Chapter 1: “The Slump”

Translated by Chandana Dutta

Chapter 2: “Phool”

Translated by Keerti Ramachandra

Chapter 3: “Parayi”

Translated by Keerti Ramachandra

Chapter 4: “The Flight of the Doves”

Translated by Nirupama Dutt

b. Of Roots and Memories: Extracts from Novels and Novellas

Chapter 5: The Story of India

Translated by Krishna Paul and D.R. Goyal

Chapter 6: Blind

Translated by Sukrita Paul Kumar and Hina Nandrajog

Chapter 7: Sleepwalkers

Translated by Sunil Trivedi and Sukrita Paul Kumar

c. A Flock of Birds: Selected Afsanche orFlash Fiction

Chapter 8: Afsanche or Flash Fiction

SECTION II

THE CARTOGRAPHY OF CREATIVITY, ON BEING A WRITER: ESSAYS BY JOGINDER PAUL

a. On the Art of Fiction Writing: Essays in Urdu by Joginder Paul

Chapter 9: New Urdu Fiction: Issues of Language and Expression

Translated by Ambar Ahmad

Chapter 10: Fiction: A Critique

Translated by Ambar Ahmad

b. On Fiction and Fellowship: Essay in English by Joginder Paul

Chapter 11: Fiction: Fellowship in Suffering

c. The Writer on Other Writers: Essays in Urdu by Joginder Paul

Chapter 12: Premchand: The Precursor of the Modern Urdu Short Story

Translated by Abdul Naseeb Khan

Chapter 13: Wazir Agha: The Writer of Inshaiya

Translated by Mohammad Asim Siddiqui

SECTION III

MAPPING CREATIVITY: CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON JOGINDER PAUL AS A WRITER

a. The Art of Joginder Paul: Essays

Chapter 14: On Joginder Paul's Nadeed

Wazir Agha

Translated by Jai Ratan

Chapter 15: Joginder Paul’s Short Stories

Wahab Ashrafi

Translated by Mohammad Asim Siddiqui

Chapter 16: The Art of Joginder Paul

Qamar Rais

Translated by Abdul Naseeb Khan

Chapter 17: The Creative Process in Joginder Paul’s Fiction

Sharib Rudaulvi

Translated by Ambar Ahmad

Chapter 18: A Speech on Joginder Paul: Some Insights

Fikr Taunsvi

Translated by Ambar Ahmad

Chapter 19: Art and Aesthetics in Joginder Paul

Muhammad Ali Siddiqui

Translated by Sami Rafiq

Chapter 20: The Story of a Banyan Tree: Reminiscing the Life and Times of Joginder Paul

Ali Ahmad Fatmi

Translated by Huma Khalil

Chapter 21: Lamps of Insights: Joginder Paul’s Afsanche

Anwar Pasha

Translated by Mohammad Asim Siddiqui

b. Perspectives from Afar: Essays

Chapter 22: Subverting the Nation-State through Post-Partition Nostalgia: Joginder Paul’s Sleepwalkers

Amrita Ghosh

Chapter 23: On Joginder Paul’s Afsanche: An Apology

Christopher Merrill

SECTION IV

A CREATIVE CONSCIOUSNESS PAR EXCELLENCE:

CONVERSATIONS AND DIALOGUES

a. Art in Every Fibre of his Being: A Conversation with Joginder Paul

Chapter 24: A Conversation with Joginder Paul

Ateequllah and Sadique

Translated by Ambar Ahmad

b. On the Wordsmith: Conversations on Joginder Paul

Chapter 25: On Joginder Paul: Shamsur Rahman Faruqi

Conversation with Chandana Dutta

Chapter 26: On Joginder Paul’s Art and Fiction

Nizam Siddiqui in Conversation with Chandana Dutta

Translated by Chandana Dutta

Chapter 27: Joginder Paul: A Creative Consciousness Par Excellence

Intekhab Hameed Khan in Conversation

Translated by Punya Prakash Tripathi

SECTION V

NAVIGATING THE SELF: SCRIPTING THE LIFE OF A WRITER

a. The Restless Seeker: A Personal Perspective

Chapter 28: A Caravan of Memories

Joginder Paul

Translated by Girija Sharma

b. The Storyteller’s Journey: About Joginder Paul

Chapter 29: Only I Would Know

Krishna Paul

Translated by Chandana Dutta

Chapter 30: My Papaji

Usha Nagpal

Chapter 31: My Incomparable Baba: A Tribute to Joginder Paul

Zahir Anwar

Translated by Smita Mishra Chaturvedi

SECTION VI

FROM THE TRANSLATORS: PRESENTING JOGINDER PAUL TO HIS READERS

Chapter 32: Transfusion as Translation: Ek Boond Lahu Ki Becoming A Drop of Blood

Snehal Singhavi

Chapter 33: To See or Not to See: Some Thoughts, Some Notes

Sukrita Paul Kumar

Chapter 34: Trans-creating the Pain of Displacement and Denial: Khwabrau into Sleepwalkers

Sunil Trivedi

Chapter 35: From Paar Pare to Beyond Black Waters

Vibha S. Chauhan

Chapter 36: Translating Joginder Paul

Meenakshi Bharat

Chapter 37: Translating Joginder Paul: A Sleepwalker’s Dream

Keerti Ramachandra

SECTION VII

FROM THE ARCHIVES: DOCUMENTING JOGINDER PAUL

Chapter 38: “Study of a Literary Work: A Critical Practice” A Letter to the Editor of Tulu-e-Afkaar

Joginder Paul

Translated by Mohammad Asim Siddiqui

SECTION VIII

THE LOGS OF A LIFE

Chapter 39: Joginder Paul: A Bibliographical Chronology

Compiled by Abu Zahir Rabbani

Joginder Paul: A Detailed Bibliography

Chandana Dutta is an author, editor, and translator. She holds a PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She has been Assistant Director for Katha Vilasam, the publishing wing of Katha, an organisation that pioneered translations in India. She set up the publishing outfit Indialog of which she was Chief Editor. She was Editor of Indian Horizons, a quarterly journal on art and culture published by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, New Delhi. She has been Adjunct Faculty for the Masters Programme in Publishing at the Ambedkar University Delhi. She translates from Hindi and Bangla into English. She is the author of My Other Half: Krishna Paul in Conversation with Chandana Dutta (2019) and co-author of a monograph on Joginder Paul (Sahitya Akademi 2021).