EP 04: Literature Becomes The First Casualty When Hardcore Ideology Takes Over says Rakhshanda Jalil

Renowned writer, critic, translater and literary historian, Rakhshanda Jalil is in conversation with Pervaiz Alam. Recorded in London, the podcast 'Urdu Bagh' covers a range of topics, including memories of her Naana - the legendary Prof. Ale Ahmed Suroor, critic, academic, literary historian and poet. She fondly remembers her Naani, Zahida Suroor who used to regale children with her quintessential idioms and proverbs such as ‘main kahoon, mera kamarbund sune’. Rakhshanda Jalil talks about her maternal uncles, Siddique Ahmed Siddique and Javed Ahmed Siddiqui. But a long discussion is devoted to the controversies associated with the progressive writers movement in South Asia- a subject of her PhD: The Progressive Writers’ Movement: With Special Reference to the Urdu Literature. 

Rakhshanda has published over twenty books and written over fifty academic papers and essays. She shares her process of working on various books and authors. Her most recent works include translations of Baal-o-Par, a definitive collection of Gulzar’s poetry, The Sea Lies Ahead, Intizar Husain's seminal novel on Karachi and Krishan Chander's partition novel Traitor; an edited volume of critical writings on Ismat Chughtai called An Uncivil Woman; a literary biography of the Urdu poet Shahryar; The Great War: Indian Writings on the First World War; Preeto and Other Stories: The Male Gaze in Urdu and, most recently, Kaifiyat, a translation of Kaifi Azmi's poems. She runs an organisation called Hindustani Awaaz, devoted to the popularisation of Hindi–Urdu literature and culture.

This interview for Urdu Bagh podcast series was recorded in London, November, 2024.