Spring 2006

URD 330 • Partition in Urdu Literature and Film

Course Description

In August 1947, the South Asian subcontinent was partitioned into India and Pakistan. What followed was murder, mayhem and bitter legacies that still haunt the region. As two prominent historians of South Asia rightly point out, "the colossal human tragedy of the partition and its continuing aftermath has been better coveyed by sensitive creative writers and artists-for example in Saadat Hasan Manto's short stories and Ritwik Ghatak's films-than by historians."

The objective of this course is to experience the Partition and its extended legacies through a broad array fo Urdu-Hindi literature and films. We will read short stories by Manto (Toba Tek Singh, Khol Do, Thanda Gosht) and poems by Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Sarder Jafari (Yeh dagh dagh ujala, guftagu band na ho) that have won critical notice, as well as, watch significant films (Garam Hawa, A Train to Pakistan, Fiza Gadar) that invoke the Partition. A significant portion of the course is the exploration of the discourses of cross-national and cross-communal literary and artistic comradeship that often belie state-sponsored nationalistic rhetoric.

Grading Policy

Short papers, translations, class participation 40% Midterm 30% Final 30%

Texts

Readings from: Sadat hasan Manto Faiz Ahmad Faiz Ali Sardar Jafari Ismat Chughtai

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