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Dhuan (short story collection)

Short story collection by Saadat Hasan Manto From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Dhuan (Urdu: Smoke) is a 1941 collection of Urdu short stories by Saadat Hasan Manto.

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Background

Dhuan was first published in 1941 from Delhi.[1] This was Manto’s third collection of original short stories after Atish Paray and Manto Ke Afsanay.[2] It was written during the time Manto spent with All India Radio.[3] The collection also included reprints of Manto’s earlier stories published in Atish Paray, such as Chori, Ji Aaya Sahab (Qasim) and Dewana Shair.[4] An identical collection under the title Kali Salwar (Black Trousers) was also published in Lahore the same year.[5]

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Content

The stories in this collection include:[1]

  • Dhuan (Smoke)[a]
  • Kabutaron wala sain (Pigeon-seller Mendicant)
  • Ullu ka Pattha (Fool)
  • Namukamal Tahrir (Unfinished composition)
  • Qabz (Constipation)
  • Aiktras ki Aankh (An Actress’s Eye)
  • Woh khat jo post na kiya gaye (Those letters that were never mailed)
  • Misri ki dali (A Piece of Rock Candy)
  • Matami Jalsa (Assembly in Mourning)
  • Talawwun (Capriciousness)
  • Sijdah (Prostration)
  • Taraqqi Pasand (Progressive)
  • Naya Saal (New Year)
  • Cuhe daan (Mousetrap)
  • Chori (Thief) [b]
  • Qasim (Qasim) [c]
  • Dewana Shair[d]
  • Kali Salwar (Black Trouser)[e]
  • Lalten (Laltern)
  • Intezar (Wait)
  • Phoolon ki sajis (The Flowers’ Conspiracy)
  • Garam Sut (Warm Suit)
  • Mera Hamsafar (My Fellow Traveller)
  • Paresaani ka sabab (The Reason for Worry)
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Themes

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Dhuan (Smoke), from which the collection takes its title, was first published in the Urdu magazine Saqi. The story deals with the awakening of sexual urges in a twelve-year old boy, Masud.[6] In Cuhe daan (Mousetrap), Manto depicts the early discovery of romantic love by teenagers.[6]

Lalten (Laltern), Misri ki dali (A Piece of Rock Candy) and Namukamal Tahrir (Unfinished composition) are similar tales of attraction of a vacationing young man for a young mountain girl.[8]

Manto explores political issues in Matami Jalsa (Assembly in Mourning) which is a satire on the reaction of people to the news of the death of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The story describes an assembly of people gathered to honour Ataturk following his death.[9] Taraqqi Pasand (Progressive), based by a true incident involving Rajinder Singh Bedi and Devindra Satyarthi, is a friendly ribbing on the Progressive Writers' Movement to which Manto was associated.[10]

He touches on social realism in Kali Salwar (Black Trouser) through the character of Sultana, a prostitute whose business is falling.[11] First published in Adab-i-Latif in Lahore, it was banned by the British government under section 292 of the Indian Penal Code on grounds of obscenity.[7]

Aiktras ki Aankh (An Actress’s Eye), Qabz (Constipation) and Paresaani ka sabab (The Reason for Worry) are sketches on the people of the Bombay film industry.[12]

See also

  • Kali Salwar - a movie based on Manto’s story of the same name

Notes

  1. first published in the magazine Saqi.[6]
  2. first published in Atish Paray.[4]
  3. a reprint of Ji Aaya Sahab from Atish Paray with a slightly different ending.[4]
  4. first published in Atish Paray.[4]
  5. first published in the annual number of Adab-i-Latif (Lahore).[7]

References

Cited sources

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