My joint review of the two translations of perhaps one of the most censored Urdu text of the previous century – Angarey. In their time, the writers had refused to be cowed down by the ban and had created the Progressive Writers Association, one of the post influential literary associations ever in history from our sub-continent.

So few people have read the original text that one would expect the publishers and translators to collaborate to create a book which will give us an insight into the politics of the times. Alas, that is not the case: ‘when put together the two versions do not multiply the original text but subtract from it’.

Do read the review, even the translations, but do not miss the sub-text: how politics of publishing robs the reader of the spirit of the original. Read here …

Tags: Angaaray, Angarey, Khalid Alvi, Penguin, Rupa, Snehal Shingavi, Vibha S. Chauhan