Never before available in English, River of Fire, originally published as Aag ka Darya in 1959, is without question the most important novel of 20th-century Urdu literature. An amazing, sui generis book, River of Fire spans two and a half millennia. Set during four Indian epochs (the classical, the medieval, the colonial, and the modern post-national), the novel is a meditation on history and human nature, tracing four souls through time. Each section is linked by characters who bear, in every period, the same names: Gautam ...
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Never before available in English, River of Fire, originally published as Aag ka Darya in 1959, is without question the most important novel of 20th-century Urdu literature. An amazing, sui generis book, River of Fire spans two and a half millennia. Set during four Indian epochs (the classical, the medieval, the colonial, and the modern post-national), the novel is a meditation on history and human nature, tracing four souls through time. Each section is linked by characters who bear, in every period, the same names: Gautam, Champa, Kamal, and Cyril. Gautam (appearing first as a student of mysticism at the Forest University of Shravasti in the 4th century B.C.E.) and Champa (throughout embodying the enigmatic experience of Indian women) begin and end the novel; Muslim Kamal appears mid-way through, as the Muslims did, and loses himself in the Indian landscape; and Cyril, the Englishman, appears later still. In different eras, different relations from among the four -- romance and war, possession and dispossession. Yet together the characters reflect the oneness of human nature: amidst the nationalist and religious upheavals of Indian history, Hyder argues for a culture that is inclusive. Interweaving parables, legends, dreams, diaries, and letters, Hyder's prose is lyrical and witty. There is really no book like River of Fire. Qurratulain Hyder was awarded the Bharatiya Gnanpith, India's highest literary award, in 1989, and here is her masterpiece, her broadest canvas and her finest art.
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Add this copy of River of Fire: (Aag Ka Darya) to cart. $14.92, fair condition, Sold by Dream Books Co. rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Denver, CO, UNITED STATES, published 1999 by New Directions.
Add this copy of River of Fire (Aag Ka Darya) to cart. $78.00, like new condition, Sold by Stanley Louis Remarkable Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Saint Charles, IL, UNITED STATES, published 1998 by New Directions Books.
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Seller's Description:
Fine in Fine jacket. Qurratulain Hyder (1927 â€" 2007) was an Indian Urdu novelist and short story writer, an academic, and a journalist One of the most outstanding and influential literary names in Urdu literature, she is best known for her magnum opus, Aag Ka Darya (River of Fire), a landmark historical novel providing context to the traumatic partition of the Indian subcontinent into two nation-states It has been described as "one of the Indian Subcontinent's best known novels" The novel timelines spanned more than two thousand years, starting from the time of Chandargupta Maurya in the fourth century BC to the post-Independence period in India and Pakistan It was published in Urdu in 1959 and translated by the author into English in 1998 as River of Fire This fine copy is in black cloth with gilt titles on the spine There are no marks or damage at all The unclipped DJ is similarly in excellent, undamaged condition 428 pp.
Add this copy of River of Fire: (Aag Ka Darya) to cart. $105.20, new condition, Sold by GridFreed rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from North Las Vegas, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2000 by New Directions.
