ABSTRACT
The Introduction places the volume, Joginder Paul: The Writerly Writer, within the context of the series Writer in Context, a unique effort in research to feature Indian language writers whose undoubted contribution to shaping the course of literary philosophy and growth in the Indian context must be recognised, contextualised, and disseminated. Joginder Paul is remembered even today for his diverse creative work – fiction and non-fiction – in the various genres in Urdu, and he remains relevant, indeed fundamental, in the larger pan-Indian context of literature in India as well. The Introduction gives an overview of how the volume looks at Paul and locates him within his personal sphere. It highlights the various social and political events that contributed to his sensibilities, the trajectory that his life and writings took, how he carved a unique place for himself even as he straddled various literary movements that were part of his timeline, his growth as writer, and more urgently, his philosophy of creativity and fiction writing. It highlights the various ideas he lived with and wrote of both in his fiction and non-fiction vis-à-vis the place of a writer, his concepts of language use and the multiplicity of tongues often found in his fiction, and his unique ideas on the relationship of the author with his reader.
