‘A Gujarat Here, A Gujarat There’: Translation of Krishna Sobti’s last novel to hit stands | Lifestyle News, The Indian Express

‘A Gujarat Here, A Gujarat There’: Translation of Krishna Sobti’s last novel to hit stands | Lifestyle News, The Indian Express

By PTI |New Delhi |Published: February 17, 2019 5:58:25 pm

‘A Gujarat Here, A Gujarat There’: Translation of Krishna Sobti’s last novel to hit stands

Touted to be her most "intensely personal novel to date", the book tells the story of Manjhli, the feisty and fearless heroine, who must struggle to navigate her way amidst myriad challenges in a newly independent India.

Among the most respected Indian writers, Krishna Sobti began with poetry, before switching to fiction. (Illustration: Subrata Dhar)

The English translation of ‘Gujarat Pakistan Se, Gujarat Hindustan Tak’, the last novel of eminent Hindi author Krishna Sobti, will hit the stands on her birthday on Monday.

Sobti, who died here on January 25th after long illness, would have turned 94 on Monday.

Touted to be her most “intensely personal novel to date”, set in the years following the Partition of 1947, and moving between Delhi and the princely state of Sirohi, the book tells the story of Manjhli, the feisty and fearless heroine, who must struggle to navigate her way amidst myriad challenges in a newly independent India.

“Where other authors have spilled buckets of ink writing histories and novels about the partition, Sobti attempts to use the smallest amount of ink possible, to cut the story of migrancy and violence down to the bone.

“Even Manto rarely managed so few words in his Siyah Hashiye (Black Borders), his ultra-short stories of the partition,” writes the translator Daisy Rockwell in her introduction to the book.

Born in 1925, Sobti was known for writing about issues of female identity and sexuality.