The Dancing Girl: Autobiographical Novel (New Directions Paperbook) - Softcover

Shah, Hasan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0811212564 ISBN 13: 9780811212564

Publisher: New Directions, 1993

Synopsis

Written in 1790, Hasan Shah's autobiographical romance, The Dancing Girl, is remarkable for both its lyrical prose and its fine recreation of a time, a place, and a culture - India in the 1780s, a tolerant, affable era before the full establishment of British colonial rule. The Dancing Girl tells of the doomed love of Hasan Shah (aide-de-camp to a British officer) and Khanum Jan (a courageous and gifted dancer of the courtesan caste) whose secret marriage could not prevent their separation. At Khanum Jan's death, her grief-stricken husband turned his raw emotion into a surprisingly modern, first-person narrative "without realizing, " as leading Urdu novelist Qurratulain Hyder observes in the foreword to her translation (from the 1893 Urdu translation of the original Persian), "that he had become a pioneer of the modern Indian novel."

About this title

About the Author:

Qurratulain Hyder (1926-2007) is widely regarded as the grande dame of Urdu literature. To her fans and admirers she is popularly known as “Ainee Apa.” The Prime Minister of India said at her funeral, “With her unfortunate passing, the country has lost a towering literary figure.”

Language Notes:

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Persian

About this edition

• Publisher: New Directions
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0811212564
• ISBN 13: 9780811212564
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 111