>Scorpions13256: Copying from Category:20th-century Indian women writers to Category:20th-century Indian writers non-diffusing subcategory using Cat-a-lot

2021-06-21T15:27:27Z

Copying from Category:20th-century Indian women writers to Category:20th-century Indian writers non-diffusing subcategory using Cat-a-lot

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{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox writer 
| name =
| image =
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| caption =
| pseudonym = Masroor Khayal
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1938|7|8}}
| birth_place = [[Lucknow]], India
| death_date = {{death date and age |df=yes|2019|9|22|1938|7|8}}
| death_place = [[Lucknow]], India
| occupation = Writer
| ethnicity =
| citizenship =
| education =
| alma_mater =
| period = 1960–2017
| notableworks = ''Nai Basti'' (''New Colony'') (1982)
| spouse = Syed Murtaza Ali Khan
| partner =
| children =
| relatives =
| awards =
| genre = Novelist and short story writer
| subject =
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| website =
}}

'''Begum Masroor Jahan''' (8 July 1938 – 22 September 2019) was an Indian novelist and short-story writer in the [[Urdu language]]. For her contributions to literature, she was awarded the [[Uttar Pradesh]] Urdu Akademi Awards in 2010{{sfn|Urdu Akademi|2010}} and 2015,{{sfn|IANS|2016}} and the ''[[Hindustan Times]]'' Women's Award in 2017.{{sfn|Jaffer|2017}}

==Life==
Masroor Jahan (née Khayal) was born in Lucknow in a literary household. Her grandfather, Mehdi Hasan Nasiri Lakhnavi, was a poet and translator, and her father, Hussein Khayal Lakhnavi, was a poet and educator. She was unable to complete her formal education.{{sfn|Hindustan Times|2017}} When sixteen years old, she was given in marriage to Syed Murtaza Ali Khan.{{sfn|Naeem|2019a}}

Jahan suffered several losses, including two brothers, and a son predeceased her.{{sfn|Naeem|2019a}} She died of a brain stroke in Lucknow on 22 September 2019.{{sfn|Alavi|2019}}

==Career==
In 1960, Masroor Khayal published her first short story, ''Who Was She?'' in ''Qaumi Aavaaz'', an Urdu journal based in Lucknow. Her first novel, ''Decision'' was published in 1962 in [[Pakistan]]. She had been using various noms-de-plume, including Masroor Khayal, but thereafter adopted Masroor Jahan.{{sfn|Naeem|2019b}}

Jahan's stories appeared in several journals, including ''Hareem'' and ''Beesveen Saddi'' (''Twentieth Century''). Her novels formed the majority of her oeuvre, though critics have suggested that her finest creativity was in the short story.{{sfn|Naeem|2019a}}

Several of her contemporaries in Urdu literature, including [[Ismat Chughtai]] and [[Qurratulain Hyder]], were active in the Progressive Writers' Movement. While she wrote social critiques, she did not join any literary trend.{{sfn|Naeem|2019a}}

The book that established her reputation was ''Taabaan'' (''Sparkling''), published in 1970. Her subsequent works became bestsellers, including ''Jab Gily Mit Gaey'' (''No more complaints'') and ''Kahan Ho Tum'' (''Where are you?'', 2012).{{sfn|Jaffar|2014}}

Jahan's works criss-crossed layers of society, from the working class to the aristocratic. Whether addressing the suppression of women under the pretext of family honour in the light of the decline of the aristocracy, or their agency in relationships, she was an acute observer of the foibles of human nature. While her cohort weighed against the perfidy of the [[nawab]]s, in several stories she presented them in a more humane light. Her short story ''Kunji'', for instance, was a sympathetic portrayal of a homosexual attraction by a nobleman for a dancer. For progressives such as Chughtai, homosexuality was a refuge for the heroes, but in Jahan's work, social mores appear to transcend human desires.{{sfn|Naeem|2019a}} Indeed, Jahan was cautious in her portrayal of sexual and psychological problems, resisting the urge to pummel society.{{sfn|Naeem|2019b}} [[Ismat Chughtai]] appreciatively wrote of her works but criticised her female characters for not being stronger; Jahan took this advice to heart and made her subsequent characters bolder.{{sfn|Alavi|2019}}

Jahan wrote in a sensitive fashion about the connections between her characters, but in her stories addressing the wreckage of families following the [[Partition of India]], she was able to portray the devastation and the meaninglessness of relationships.{{sfn|Naeem|2019b}} In her later stories, she was lauded for the nuanced depiction of empathy. In ''Lutera'', a thug kidnaps a married woman; realising she's pregnant, he lets her go. Her husband, though, remains uncaring of her medical condition.{{sfn|Kidwai|2019}} Her collection ''Tere Mere Dukh'' (''Your Sorrows and Mine'') was well-received for the ''flowering of her art in perceiving man's common heritage of pain.''{{sfn|Zaidi|1988}}

Her novel ''Nai Basti'' (''New Colony'', 1982) was thematically quite different from the others. She had written romances but in this exemplar of social realism, she addressed the issues facing the urban poor living in illegal settlements.{{sfn|Naeem|2019a}}

Jahan wrote sixty five novels and five hundred short stories.{{sfn|Kidwai|2019}} Her writings have been translated into several languages, including [[Kashmiri language|Kashmiri]], [[Malayalam]], English and [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]].{{sfn|Naeem|2019c}}

==Selected works==
===Short stories===
* {{cite book|title=Boorha Eucalyptus|trans-title=The Aged Eucalyptus|year=1982}}
* {{cite book|title=Naql-e- Makaani|trans-title=Migration}}
* {{cite book|title=Tere mere dukh|trans-title=Your Sorrows and Mine|location=Lucknow|publisher=Nami Press}}
* {{cite book|title=Kahan ho Tum! Afsanvi Majmu'ah|year=2012|isbn=978-81-8223-951-7}}
* {{cite book|title=Khwab dar Khwab Safar|trans-title=A Journey Dream After Dream|year=2016|location=Delhi|isbn=978-9350737446}}

===Novels===
* {{cite book|title=Faisla|trans-title=Decision|year=1962}}
* {{cite book|title=Shizif|year=1973}}
* {{cite book|title=Nai Basti|trans-title=New Colony|year=1982}}

== References ==

{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography==
* {{cite news|newspaper=NewsBits.in|url=http://www.newsbits.in/masroor-jahan-bids-adieu-literary-world-mourns-the-demise-of-the-famed-urdu-author|title=Masroor Jahan bids adieu, literary world mourns the demise of the famed Urdu author|first=Shams Ur Rehman|last=Alavi|date=24 September 2019|access-date=12 October 2019}}
* {{cite news|newspaper=The Hindustan Times|title=HT Woman Awards: Pride, pain and a promise|date=15 May 2017|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/lucknow/ht-woman-awards-pride-pain-and-a-promise/story-pQHq4kUh1xPM2ksOwZ75rM.html|access-date=12 October 2019|ref={{harvid|Hindustan Times|2017}}}}
* {{cite news|newspaper=Business Standard|title=UP Urdu Academy announces top award to Nida Fazli|location=Lucknow|date=26 March 2016|url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/up-urdu-academy-announces-top-award-to-nida-fazli-116032600749_1.html|access-date=12 October 2019|ref={{harvid|IANS|2016}}}}
* {{cite web|publisher=Deutsche Welle|title=Love and longing in Lucknow's novels|url=https://blogs.dw.com/womentalkonline/2014/07/31/love-and-longing-in-lucknows-novels/|access-date=12 October 2019|date=31 July 2014|first=Mehru|last=Jaffar}}
* {{cite news|newspaper=The Citizen|title=The Talented, Lovely Women of Uttar Pradesh!|first=Mehru|last=Jaffer|url=https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/NewsDetail/index/7/10841/The-Talented-Lovely-Women-of-Uttar-Pradesh|access-date=12 October 2019|date=1 June 2017}}
* {{cite news|newspaper=The Hindu|first=Shafey|last=Kidwai|title=On popular demand |url=https://www.thehindu.com/books/books-authors/on-popular-demand/article28898548.ece|date=9 August 2019|access-date=12 October 2019}}
* {{cite news|newspaper=The Wire|url=https://thewire.in/books/masroor-jahan-the-eucalyptus-that-was-uprooted|title=Masroor Jahan: The Eucalyptus That Was Uprooted|first=Raza|last=Naeem|date=7 October 2019a|access-date=12 October 2019}}
* {{cite news|newspaper=The Friday Times|url=https://www.thefridaytimes.com/farewell-to-masroor-jahan-and-her-lucknow/|title=Farewell to Masroor Jahan and her Lucknow|first=Raza|last=Naeem|date=4 October 2019b|access-date=12 October 2019}}
* {{cite news|newspaper=The Friday Times|url=https://www.thefridaytimes.com/farewell-to-masroor-jahan-and-her-lucknow-ii/|title=Farewell to Masroor Jahan and her Lucknow – II|first=Raza|last=Naeem|date=11 October 2019c|access-date=12 October 2019}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.upurduakademi.org/StaticPages/English/award.aspx|publisher=Urdu Akademi|title=Awards|access-date=12 October 2019|ref={{harvid|Urdu Akademi|2010}}}}
* {{cite journal|title=Urdu Scene: Balanced Growth|first=Ali Jawad|last=Zaidi|journal=Indian Literature|volume=31|pages = 149–160|number=6|year=1988|jstor = 23336032}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jahan, Masroor}}

[[Category:1938 births]]
[[Category:2019 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian Muslims]]
[[Category:Urdu-language writers from India]]
[[Category:Urdu-language short story writers]]
[[Category:People from Lucknow]]
[[Category:Urdu-language novelists]]
[[Category:Women writers from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian short story writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian novelists]]
[[Category:Indian women novelists]]
[[Category:Indian women short story writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian writers]]
[[Category:Novelists from Uttar Pradesh]]

Masroor Jahan - Revision history

>Scorpions13256: Copying from Category:20th-century Indian women writers to Category:20th-century Indian writers non-diffusing subcategory using Cat-a-lot