A Life in Words: Memoirs

Ismat Chughtai

Feb 2022 · Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Dilshad Khurana

Audiobook

11 hr 5 min

Unabridged

Eligible

Ratings and reviews aren’t verified Learn More

Want a 13 min sample? Listen anytime, even offline.

Add

About this audiobook

A Life in Words, the first complete translation of Ismat Chughtai's celebrated memoir Kaghazi hai Pairahan, provides a delightful account of several crucial years of her life. Along side vivid descriptions of her childhood years are the conflicted experiences of growing up in a large Muslim family during the early decades of the twentieth century. Chughtai is searingly honest about her fight to get an education and the struggle to find her own voice as a writer. The result is a compellingly readable memoir by one of the most significant Urdu writers of all time.

About the author

Ismat Chughtai (1911 - 1991) was Urdu's most courageous and controversial woman writer in the twentieth century. She carved a niche for herself among her contemporaries of Urdu fiction writers, Rajinder Singh Bedi, Saadat Hasan Manto and Krishan Chander by introducing areas of experience not explored before. Her work not only transformed the complexion of Urdu fiction, it brought about an attitudinal change in the assessment of literary works. Although a spirited member of the Progressive Writers' Movement in India, she spoke vehemently against its orthodoxy and inflexibility. Often perceived of as a feminist writer, Chughtai explored female sexuality while also exploring other dimensions of social and existential reality.

Rate this audiobook

Tell us what you think.

Listening information

Smartphones and tablets

Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.

Laptops and computers

You can read books purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.

Report illegal content