ABSTRACT
This book is a comprehensive volume on the life and works of Joginder Paul, a well-known Urdu fiction writer and thinker. It presents a selection from the writer’s oeuvre – a few of his short stories, extracts from his long fiction, samples of his micro-fiction, personal reminiscences, and some of his incisive critical essays written in Urdu as well as in English that lay out his ideas on the role of the writer and the art of writing. The volume also contextualises his work within the Urdu literary tradition and beyond through some critical essays on him from across time and geography. It situates Paul as a notable fiction writer and an essayist who broke convention in his writing and crafted his own individual style. It shows how he was received in Urdu while also placing him as an important creative voice within a larger pan-Indian literary context.
The book also focuses on Paul’s efforts to effect a change in how fiction should be perceived, particularly by his readers who he considered the most important ally-participant in his effort to create stories. This volume will help to evolve a deeper understanding of the thematic subtleties in his fiction, as well as the critical perspectives he offers in his non-fiction.
Part of the Writer in Context series, this book will be indispensable to scholars and researchers in literature, history, sociology, language and creative writing, Partition studies, translation studies, Indian writings, Urdu literature, postcolonial studies, and South Asian Studies.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part Section I|24 pages
Imaging Universes: Fiction by Joginder Paul
part |23 pages
a. Traversing Creative Universes: Selected Short Stories
part |7 pages
b. Of Roots and Memories: Extracts from Novels and Novellas
part |3 pages
c. A Flock of Birds: Selected Afsanche or Flash Fiction
part Section II|12 pages
The Cartography of Creativity, On Being a Writer: Essays by Joginder Paul
part |11 pages
a. On the Art of Fiction Writing: Essays in Urdu by Joginder Paul
part |8 pages
b. On Fiction and Fellowship: Essay in English by Joginder Paul
part |14 pages
c. The Writer on Other Writers: Essays in Urdu by Joginder Paul
part Section III|58 pages
Mapping Creativity: Critical Perspectives on Joginder Paul as a Writer
part |57 pages
a. The Art of Joginder Paul: Essays
part |16 pages
b. Perspectives from Afar: Essays
part Section IV|13 pages
A Creative Consciousness Par Excellence: Conversations and Dialogues
part |11 pages
a. Art in Every Fibre of his Being: A Conversation with Joginder Paul
part |25 pages
b. On the Wordsmith: Conversations on Joginder Paul
part Section V|7 pages
Navigating the Self: Scripting the Life of a Writer
part |6 pages
a. The Restless Seeker: A Personal Perspective
part |19 pages
b. The Storyteller's Journey: About Joginder Paul
part Section VI|30 pages
From the Translators: Presenting Joginder Paul to his Readers
part Section VII|6 pages
From the Archives: Documenting Joginder Paul
chapter 38|4 pages
“Study of a Literary Work: A Critical Practice”
part Section VIII|14 pages
The Logs of a Life