The Oxford India Anthology of Modern Urdu Literature comprehensively and creatively surveys the field from the mid-nineteenth to late twentieth centuries. Covering 100 years of
literary production, including about 90 authors and over 130 selections, and many new translations, the twin volumes covers major genres like poetry, drama, and fiction, as well as essays,
autobiography, and letters.
The 'Poetry and Prose Miscellany' volume begins with Akbar Ilahabadi (1846-1921) and ends with Tanveer Anjum (b. 1956), and includes celebrated practitioners like Muhammad Iqbal, Firaq
Gorakhpuri, and Faiz Ahmad Faiz, among others. The prose miscellany--essays and sketches, autobiography, drama, humour and satire, and letters--includes such past masters as Abul Kalam Azad,
Shahid Ahmad Dehlvi, Saadat Hasan Manto, and Ismat Chughtai, as well as an interesting selection of anecdotes on well-known literary personages like Ghalib, Mir Insha ullah Khan Unsha, Josh
Malihabadi, and others--something rarely seen in canonical literature. The Introduction, giving an overview of the development of Urdu literature and placing the writings in their proper
historical context, is accompanied by a chronological listing of authors, biographical head-notes of the writings, glossary, and bibliography to help readers understand and savour the rich
diversity of Urdu literature.
