The Pity of Partition: Manto’s Life, Times, and Work across the India-Pakistan Divide

• The book connects Manto’s experiences in Bombay and Lahore with the political and social upheavals surrounding Partition. It examines themes of identity, communal conflict, migration, literature and the transition from British rule to the postcolonial states of India and Pakistan.

• Ayesha Jalal is a historian and the Mary Richardson Professor of History at Tufts University. Her scholarship focuses extensively on South Asian history, politics, nationalism and Muslim identity. Her major works include The Sole Spokesman, Self and Sovereignty and Partisans of Allah.

The book uses the life and work of Saadat Hasan Manto as a lens through which to understand Partition. Jalal explores Manto’s literary response to violence, migration and changing identities, while examining the social worlds of Bombay and Lahore. His stories and personal writings provide a way to understand the experiences of individuals and communities during one of the most transformative periods in modern South Asian history.