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Literary Review
Manto’s errant genius
ZIYA US SALAM
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An opportunity for those who have never read Manto.
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Selected Stories;Saadat Hasan Manto, Traslated by Khalid Hassan, Penguin, Rs. 295.
Saadat Hasan Manto was conceded too little, too ungraciously by a society that celebrated conformism. A confirmed deviant, Manto was an errant genius.
The man who died young was, paradoxically, not quite loved and lauded when alive. Born to an unwanted second wife of a sub-judge, he revelled in the darker side of life. Drugs, liquor, gambling, and forbidden literature gave him his highs when young. A visit to a mental asylum was to be his lot when middle-aged and married. In between lay a couple of futile attempts at clearing Urdu in school-leaving examination! And a penchant to draw parallels with the pain-ridden life of Ghalib.
Guiding hand
Yet the genius could have been lost to the Urdu world, and to a society that only wanted a mirror reflection of its mores had it not been for Progressive leftist activist Bari Aligue’s guiding hand in Saadat’s life. When the world scoffed at his life and literature, Bari instilled in him a new fire. Tried for obscenity no less than six times, Manto never lost sight of his basic humanity. He even let go of his Left leanings, but not his humanism. And penned together some 250 short stories. Almost each of which is a marvel of simple construction and profundity. Not quite an example of moral rectitude, he never played a moral judge, and as he himself believed and seasoned translator Khalid Hasan says in the introduction, “how he could disrobe a society that was already naked. He did not beautify what was ugly nor hide what he felt should be exposed.”
Though he talked of sexual purring with a remarkable candour, Manto’s best writing comes from the Partition trauma and, fortunately, this collection is rich in that aspect. “Toba Tek Singh”, which sprang from his stay at a mental asylum, “The Return”, “Colder than Ice” and “The Last Salute” all come from the savage times when even inmates of asylums were exchanged on the basis of their religion.
Hasan has also chosen “Two Nation Theory” detailing appropriately the love story of Sharda and Mukhtar. Here too, Manto was not didactic in his summation.
Hasan speaks of the writer’s migration to Pakistan, when all his fame and fleeting fortune had come from his time in the Bombay film industry. He allows Manto’s wife, Safia, to say it all: “He was always treated unjustly by everyone. The truth is that he had no intention of leaving India, but a few months before Partition, Filmistan handed him a notice of termination and that, believe me, broke his heart. For a long time, he kept it hidden from me….That was when he started drinking heavily which in the end claimed his life…But one thing he did. He wrote prodigiously, almost a story a day, until the day he died.”
Symbolism
Yet for all the good things about the collection which shows many shades of Manto the writer, the best one comes from a touch of symbolism at the beginning. That little feeling which Manto shared with Ghalib, the greatest Urdu poet of the 19th Century with the great short story writer of the 20th Century. That vacuum is filled by Hasan in the Introduction where we learn that like Ghalib, Manto too had written his epitaph some six months before passing away. And typical of the man, it had a mixture of self-deprecation, arrogance, and a sense of accomplishment. This is what he said, “Here lies Saadat 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, Saadat Hasan Manto, 18 August, 1954.”
Retaining the spirit
This translated collection of 28 short stories is a wonderful opportunity for those who have never read Manto first hand. This is the closest approximation. And Hasan, a seasoned translator, has been able to retain the spirit of Manto without diluting the exact meaning unnecessarily. The lyricism, the trenchant bite of the master raconteur as well as the lucidity of his expression have all been handled with distinction.
Drawbacks? Yes, the collection stays clear of most of the controversial pieces. Forget “Thanda Gosht”, there is no scope for “Dhuan” either. Which is a pity considering Manto’s greatest claim to abiding fame is the fact that he could overcome litigation, transcend social mores, and still be read and respected! Classics don’t have to be gift-wrapped.
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