The politics of literary production in Urdu modernism
Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911-1984), N.M. Rashid (1910-1975), and Miraji (1912-1949) are three of the most prominent poets of Urdu modernism. Despite writing at the same time and responding to the same literary and political landscapes, they took different approaches to tradition and its relationship to poetic invention, views on literature’s role in responding to political realities, and how they wanted readers to engage with their work. These literary translations track their respective styles as they wrote during a moment of great upheaval: the Partition of India. This anthology is accompanied by an introduction which situates these poets in their specific literary and linguistic context, examines how their work is still relevant today, and tracks how the translator’s decisions are informed by their poetics.