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Intimate Relations remaps the discussion on gender and the nation
in South Asia through a close study of the domestic novel as a
literary genre and a tool for social reform. As a product of the
intersection of literary and social reform movements, in the late
nineteenth century the domestic novel became a site for literary
innovation and also for rethinking women's roles in society and
politics. Krupa Shandilya focuses primarily on social reform
movements that negotiated the intimate relations between men and
women in Hindu and Muslim society, namely, the widow remarriage act
in Bengal (1856) and the education of women promoted by the Aligarh
movement (1858-1900). Both movements were invested in recovering
woman as a "respectable" subject for the Hindu and Muslim nation,
where respectability connoted asexual spirituality. While most
South Asian literary scholarship has focused on a normative Hindu
woman, Intimate Relations couples discussion of the representation
of the widow in bhadralok (upper-caste, middle-class) society with
that of the courtesan of sharif (upper-class, Muslim, feudal)
society in Bengali and Urdu novels from the 1880s to the 1920s. By
drawing together their disparate histories in the context of
contemporaneous social reform movements, Shandilya reflects on the
similarities of Hindu and Islamic constructions of the gendered
nation.
Published in 1899, Muhammad Hadi Ruswa's famous novel, "Umrao Jaan
Ada, " created a sensation when it came out, with its candid
fictionalized account of Umrao Jaan, based on a renowned Lucknow
courtesan and poetess of the same name. Considered by many as the
first Urdu novel, it remains highly popular today, and has been the
basis for three films and a Pakistani television serial. But
despite Ruswa's notoriety, few know that a month after he wrote
"Umrao Jaan Ada," Ruswa penned a sly novella entitled
"Junun-e-Intezar, " in which "Umrao" avenges herself on her
creator, Ruswa, by narrating the story of his life. Blurring the
lines between truth and fiction, narrator and character, this
clever narrative strategy gives the courtesan a voice.
While "Umrao Jaan Ada" is still celebrated, "Junun-e-Intezar" has
been completely forgotten--until now. "The Madness of Waiting
"redresses this imbalance, featuring both the Urdu original and a
superb English translation of "Junun-e-Intezar." The book also
includes a critical introduction that rethinks "Umrao Jaan Ada" and
the Urdu literary milieu of the late-nineteenth-century Lucknow
courtesan.
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