Rahi Masoom Reza : The Question of Text and Context

This book offers a curated selection of Rahi Masoom Reza's fiction, poetry, scripts, and critical writings in English translation while critically examining Reza’s unique position as a poet-novelist who bridged the worlds of Hindi and Urdu, and whose enduring relevance lies in fostering interfaith and intercultural understanding.

Rahi Masoom Reza (1927–1992) was a trailblazing Hindi-Urdu writer of the 20th century - best known for his novels Adha Gaon (1966), which vividly portrays a Shia Muslim village during Partition, Topi Shukla (1968), which captures the tragic rupture between Hindu and Muslim friends, and for scripting the iconic TV serial Mahabharat (1988) – an epic that captivated audiences across India and even Pakistan. This volume offers a curated selection of his fiction, poetry, scripts, and critical writings in English translation, addressing the lack of comprehensive studies on his diverse oeuvre. Reza’s works explore the complex relationships between Hindus and Muslims, Hindi and Urdu, and Hinduism and Islam, challenging the rigid linguistic and cultural divides of post-Partition India. Despite writing seven other novels, Urdu poetry collections, and scripts for nearly 300 Hindi films and TV serials, his contributions remain underappreciated. This book critically examines Reza’s unique position as a poet-novelist who bridged the worlds of Hindi and Urdu, and whose enduring relevance lies in fostering interfaith and intercultural understanding. Part of the ‘Writer in Context’ series, this will be an essential resource for scholars of Indian literature, Hindi literature, Urdu literature, comparative literature, postcolonial studies, cultural studies, global south studies, and translation studies, offering fresh insights into Reza’s literary genius and his role in shaping the cultural discourse of the subcontinent.