Enjoy Kingdoms End: Selected Stories Written By Saadat Hasan Manto Visible In Softcover

Asian literature almost always features subpar translation, even from acknowledged scholars like Khalid Hassan, While the translation is better than most comparable south Asian volumes, it does seem a little forced at times.

Manto though, really is a supreme humanist, An avid reader of people, Manto's favourite themes appear to be cultural and communal friction, adolescence and puberty, and portraits of fringe sections of society.
He writes without refrain, or fear of reprisal, with disarming simplicity and sharp clarity The most widely read and the most translated writer in Urdu.
Saadat Hasan Mantois also the most controversial: he was tried for obscenity no less than six times, both before and after the departure of the British from India in.
In a writing career spanning over two decades, Manto, one of Urdu's great stylists, produced a powerful and original body of work including short stories, a novel, radio plays, essays and film scripts.


This collection brings together some of Manto's finest stories, ranging from his chilling recounting of the horrors of Partition to his portrayal of the underworld.
Writing with great feeling and empathy about the fallen and the rejects of society, Manto the supreme humanist shows how the essential goodness of people does not die even in the face of unimaginable suffering.
Powerful and deeply moving, these stories remain as relevant today as they were first published more than half a century ago.
I read mainly Manto's Partition stories as part of a class about Indian literature, I think the translation is a bit subpar, . . some of the stories appeared to have an intention of humor that didn't translate in the language.
Manto is notable for his low class characters lots of prostitutes, I was shocked a bit by the excessive violence of the Partition stories, but then again, the Partition was exceedingly violent and terrible.
Overall, very moving short stories, Manto paints really vivid pictures of India post independence, with stories varying from lighthearted Upstairs Downstairs to incredibly violent Colder Than Ice, The Wild Cactus.
He captured the upheaval that Partition caused really well, with allegiances to friends and religion so often being in absurd conflict The Assignment and The Last Salute being good examples of this.
It took me a very long time to finish this book, not because it was not engaging, but because it was too engaging.
Stark, brutal, honest. Each story takes so much out of you, it is impossible to read more than one at a time.

Reading it against the backdrop of the current political scenario, one is struck by how little has changed.
How popular opinion is manipulated to make a fool of you how people still remain as they always were.
I wish I could read Saadat Hasan Manto in the original, because I think a lot of linguistic dexterity gets lost in the translation, but this collection of stories is nevertheless remarkable.
Every story is so simple and sharp, He writes crisply and wittily, and the prose and content are never stale or outdatedfeeling, Most are Partitionera stories of ordinary people, I feel like an entire class could be taught on each of these stories, Manto deserves much greater international recognition as a canonical author and great social thinker, When telling people what I am reading I have stumbled over such basic information as his nationality, or country of birth, because the answer to those questions is a bit tricksy.
He was born to a Kashmiri family in Amritsar in Britishruled India, later living mostly in Lahore, Bombay and finally Karachi.
He died less than a decade after the Partition of, and is quoted in the introduction to this volume as saying that he truly did know whether India or Pakistan was his true homeland.


And that, with the turbulence of those years and tensions between religions and social groups, is central to many of the stories in this collection.
Which is a great insight and can be very moving, However, in all Id say I had a mixed reaction to these stories, The language is often beautiful, not flowery and easy to read except occasionally for the subject matter.
The stories are often erotic, with lots of describing womens bodies, and they dont shy away from getting down and dirty at times.
This is particularly true because many of the women characters are prostitutes,

My full review: sitelink noseinabook. co. uk/p Tragedy always has touched me deeply, And Manto has painted it with the most intricate hues, LOVE Saadat Hasan Manto. . a marvellous writer who can write the human emotions the way you feel them, . the pain, the joy, the unsaid feelings behind every emotion, . and every time I read Manto it touches me in a different way, . There is so much to Manto's stories, . veryone can interpret in any way they want, . . But the best part of Manto's stories is teh twist the story runs fast amp engaging till the last sentence when everything changes for the reader.
The endings are just superb and I got the flashes of the entire story within those few sseconds and how things would have happened at the end.
I can keep on writing about Manto, . but believe me I would never be able to express the marvel of Manto's writings, Its something you can only feel when you read it, A must read for sure!!! Ms Desai was right in comparing Manto to Gogol, He appealed and appeared as a dexterously simple storyteller, Perhaps no other writer can express the intense pain of separation entailed by love and partition quite as well as Manto does.
. . A sheer delight! A friend from Pakistan recommended this author, These stories are simply humanity, raw and stripped down to the essence of life, I love to read work that exposes reality and captures true emotion, His writing does. His understanding of women and his ability to show us the quality in people who may not seem like obvious subjects for such make his writing thought provoking.
It seems over time I have gotten to expect much from what I read, I am not satisfied to be simply entertained, If I don't have questions after reading a book or start looking at things from a different aspect then I don't feel my time was spent well.
I highly recommend Manto's work, Manto definitely is one of the best short story writer and this book in all its entirety deservesstars.

I stumbled onto Manto when I heard about a short story called Toba Tek Singh then this curiosity was more strengthened when I saw a short video about Manto by Nawazuddin Siddique on Youtube.

When I saw his short story collection I was immediately drawn to it The cover is impeccable too.


Manto wrote his short stories in Urdu but I read the English translations done by Khalid Hasan and they r equally good.
They make sure the right emotions are evoked in the reader all the time,

Most of the stories written by Manto are about prostitues, people's lives during freedom struggle and the stories of partition how it affected people.
In the end there are few stories on love too,
The short story titled "Kingdom's End" is a love story and it is brilliant,

Coming to Toba Tek Singh This off course is a brilliant take on post partition situation and I feel as a play it will have much more impact.
I rated this storys, Because personally I felt much more moved by other stories, There arestories in this book and all of them are good in their own way conveying a message but being subtle at the same time.


Below is a list of short stories amongst the whole book that I particularly loved the most and have made a lasting impact on my mind and heart: The list is no particular order
.
The Assignment
. Mozail
. Kingdom's End
. A Man of God
, The Wild Cactus
. The Dog of Titwal
, The Last Salute
. On the Balcony
. Toba Tek Singh
. The New Constitution.
. The Gift

"Patch" amp "Upstairs Downstairs" are really funny they leave you in splits and the same time there is a hint of dark humor in them just a slight tint.


The most of what I had read about freedom struggle was from history books which only talked about great leaders, important dates and spoke about masses in general.
They never dived into what was going on during the lives of normal people The history books are never intended for that purpose though.
But this kind of gives a very partial and obscure picture, Manto's stories are great in that way they deal with delicate matter the matter of love and live of normal people, society rejects like prostitues.
The stories serve the purpose of enlightening you in a great way, The picture gets clearer in a way, Manto is sometimes equated to Gogol,

In the introduction of the book I read something interesting and it goes like this:
Manto wrote his own epitaphmonths before he died, though it doesnt appear on his grave in lahore.
This is what it said: "Here lies Sadat Hasan Manto and with him lie buried all the secrets and mysteries of the art

of short story writing.
Under tons of earth he lies, still wondering who among the two is the greater short story writer: God or he" Five for Manto.


Three for translation, No, less than three.

See why: sitelink urdustudies. com/pdfm While we learn about India's struggle for freedom from the British Raj in our school textbooks, no where do we learn about the human cost that was incurred during that time, and in particular, during the communal riots that followed the Partition.
Picking up to read this book was an attempt of mine to educate myself on that, but boy I wasn't prepared to encounter read ravished by Manto's exceptional storytelling.
. !!

For me, this book, by far, is one of the toughest reads ever, Tough in the sense that book has the power to bring out an entire spectrum of emotions or emotional responses out of a person, which are not really comfortable.
Yeah, it is an uncomfortable though necessary read,

To call Manto "ahead of his times" would be unfair, I believe, for he was a product of his times.
The differentiating factor from other writers was that Manto mostly wrote about the castaways of society.
His storytelling depicts characters in raw, human form good and the ugly, albeit the ideals and morals that are usually expected and adhered in society.


Personal favorites include:
The Assignment
The Wild Cactus
The Last Salute
Toka Tek Singh
Colder Than Ice

The translation is top notch and I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the devastating effects and aftereffects which we both India and Pakistan are reeling from even to this date of the Partition of India.
However, I would stress on the fact that this collection of Manto's stories is not centred just around Partition it paints the picture of a pre and post partition India and brings to life stories of people who have barely found any representation even to this date.


Considering that this is my first ever review on Goodreads afteryears of being on this platform, I wanted to keep this one short.
But I guess Manto brings out that in you, a compelling urge to express!

Concluding with Saadat Hasan Manto's selfwritten epitaph:
“Here lies buried Saadat Hasan Manto in whose bosom are enshrined all the secrets and art of short story writing.
Buried under mounds of earth, even now he is contemplating whether he is a greater short story writer or God.
”

It's a pity that they never really inscribed it on this tombstone, .