Ahmed Ali, The Prison House

Carlo Coppola (Oakland University)

Ed. by Muneeza Shamsie, Independent Scholar - Asia
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 10.3.2: Pakistani and Bangladeshi Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Claire Gallien (Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3), Sarker Hasan Al Zayed (Independent University Bangladesh), Pavan Kumar Malreddy (J W Goethe University of Frankfurt), Delphine Munos (Université de Liège), Muneeza Shamsie (Independent Scholar - Asia), Niaz Zaman (Independent University Bangladesh)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1985

Places

India, Capital Territory Delhi (Country of Origin)
Pakistan (Country of Origin; Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Story Collection
Translation

Resources

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The Prison-House

(1985) contains short stories by the Pakistani literary polymath Ahmed Ali, a pioneer in establishing the short story as a Modernist Urdu literary genre. His first works in this medium were two stories in the highly provocative anthology

Angaray

[Embers] (Zahir et al., Lucknow, 1932), authored by the “

enfants terribles

of Urdu literature” (Coppola, Karachi, 2017), four young writers who drew widespread negative attention from the literary, religious, and political establishments. Ali’s contributions were “Badal Nahin Aate” [Clouds Do Not Come], 68-79, and “Mahavaton Ki Ek Raat” [A Night of Winter Rains], 80-93. The collection was quickly proscribed due to extensive condemnation on allegations of blasphemy, obscenity, anti-clericalism, feminism, and leftist…

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2056 words

Citation: Coppola, Carlo. "The Prison House". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 April 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=9626, accessed 25 April 2024.]

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