Umrāo Jān Adā meṉ faḥḥāshī kī tajlīl
Agnieszka Kuczkiewicz-Fraś
Translated by Arshad Masood Hashmi
DOI https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.13292582
Abstract. What strikes us in Umrāo Jān Adā is the fact that the novel in which the complexity of a prostitutes’ life and work has been exposed and explored long before feminist discourse took these up – has never been analyzed in terms of sexuality. A good deal of research has been done concerning various aspects of Rusvā’s masterpiece, however, the sphere of human activity that first comes to mind, associated inseparably with sex-workers and their deeds is nothing more nor less than sex and sexual activity. Yet, on this very aspect of the novel both researchers and enthusiasts of Rusvā’s book remain conspicuously silent. In this paper, the author tries to answer the question whether Umrāo Jān Adā is indeed so blameless and devoid of any salacious and obscene elements?
Keywords. Umra’o Jan Ada, Rusva, Modern Urdu Novel, Sexuality.
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Agnieszka Kuczkiewicz-Fraś, Head of the Department of South and South-East Asia, IBiDW / Head of the Department of South and South-East Asia, IoNaFE). Professor at the Institute of the Middle and Far East of the Jagiellonian University, orientalist, linguist, she obtained her PhD (2001) and Habilitation (2014) in linguistics at the Jagiellonian University (specialization: sociolinguistics of South Asia). Her main areas of research interest include: Indo-Muslim traditions of South Asia (history, culture, society), contemporary socio-political issues of South Asian countries, with particular emphasis on the issues of Islam and Muslims in the region, sociolinguistics of the Indian subcontinent, and also theoretical and practical issues related to literary translation from oriental languages (Hindi, Urdu) in the context of intercultural contacts. She has translated Mirza Muhammad Hadi Ruswa’s Umrao Jan Ada into Polish with extensive annotations.
ORCID: 0000-0003-2990-9931
a.kuczkiewicz-fras@uj.edu.pl
Umrāo Jān Adā meṉ faḥḥāshī kī tajlīl by Agnieszka Kuczkiewicz-Fraś is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 
