About Book
At a time when writing by and about women was rare and tentative, Chughtai explored female sexuality with unparalleled frankness and examined the political and social mores of her time. She wrote about the world that she knew, bringing the idiom of the middle class to Urdu prose, and totally transformed the complexion of Urdu fiction.
Lifting the Veil brings together Ismat Chughtai’s fiction and non-fiction writing. The twenty-one pieces in this selection are Chughtai at her best, marked by her brilliant turn of phrase, scintillating dialogue and wry humour, her characteristic irreverence, wit and eye for detail.
About Author
The first Muslim woman in India to obtain both a B.A. and a teaching degree, Ismat Chughtai (1915-1991) revolutionized Urdu literature. Her best-known and erotically charged work "The Quilt" exposed the relationship between a privileged woman and her maid, and touched off an obscenity trial that lasted four years. Accomplished translator of works by prominent Urdu women writers, Tahira Naqvi was born in Lahore, Pakistan and is herself a published short story writer (Attar of Roses and Dying in a Strange Country) working now on her first novel. She lives in the US and has taught Urdu at NYU and Columbia. Accomplished translator of works by prominent Urdu women writers, Tahira Naqvi was born in Lahore, Pakistan and is herself a published short story writer (Attar of Roses and Dying in a Strange Country) working now on her first novel. She lives in the US and has taught Urdu at NYU and Columbia.