Angarey

Angarey was banned by the government of the United Provinces a few months after it was first published in 1932. Almost all the copies printed were seized and set on fire. The release of the book had been marked by protests and the government was convinced that it would offend the sensibilities of society. Written by four young firebrands-Sajjad Zahir, Ahmed Ali, Rashid Jahan and Mahmuduzzafar-Angarey comprises nine stories and a play. 'Heaven Assured' pokes fun at a moulvi's excessive piety, while 'Masculinity' effectively uses the interior monologue to skewer patriarchy. The stories 'A Night of Mahavatt, the Winter Rain' and 'The Clouds Don't Come' are brilliant instances of the stream-of-consciousness technique being used to evoke an epic desolation and the uselessness of religion as a prop when faced by grinding poverty. Angarey, the book which invited one of the earliest bans on free speech in India, and a precursor of the Progressive Writers' Movement, was re-published in Urdu in 1995. Sensitively and brilliantly translated, this is the first time that the book is being published in the English language.