Great Urdu fiction writer Saadat Hassan Manto remembered on his 68th death anniversary

ISLAMABAD (APP) - Eminent Urdu fiction writer, radio script writer and journalist Saadat Hassan Manto was remembered on his 68th death anniversary today (January 18) for his lifetime services to Urdu literature.

Manto was known to write about the realities of the society that no one dared to talk about. Manto was born on May 11, 1912 in Ludhiana and breathed his last on January 18, 1955.

He is best known for documenting stories about the partition of sub-continent and highlighted the pain and misery of those times and stood with the victims of partition. Manto attained a unique position in the Urdu literature.

Manto, writing mainly in the Urdu language, produced 22 collections of short stories, a novel, five series of radio plays, three collections of essays and two collections of personal sketches.

During his early days he met a journalist, Abdul Bari Alig, who soon changed the young man’s imaginary dabbling with genuine interest in politics and enthusiasm.

Manto completed a translation within two weeks and sold it to the Urdu Book Stall, Lahore, which published it under the title Sarguzasht-e-Aseer.

Having now become a published author, Manto aided by Hassan Abbas soon attempted a translation of Oscar Wilde’s Vera, which was published in 1934. Manto also continued to try his hand at original short stories in Urdu, at least one of which “Inqlab Pasand”, dated March 1935 which was published in the Aligarh Magazine.

Later this, story ‘Tamasha” and several others were put together into Manto’s first collection of original short stories in Urdu, ‘Atish Pare”, published in 1936. Later, he came to Lahore and joined newspaper Paras.

In late 1936, he accepted an invitation to edit the weekly Musawwir and justify Lahore for Bombay. In 1941, he went to Delhi and accepted the job of writing for Urdu Service of All India Radio. Soon four of his collection of radio plays, Ao, Mantoke Drame, Janaze and Tin Aurraten were published.

The controversial short story collection Dhuan came out. His first collection of topical essays, Manto ke Mazamin, also appeared during this time. Some of his other publications are: Atishpare 1936, Manto Ke Afsane 1940, Dhuan 1941, Afsane Aur Dramme 1943, Laazat-e-Sang 1948, Chughd 1948, Siyahhasiye 1948, Badshahat ka Khatimah 1950, Khali Botlein 1950, Nimrud ki Khudai 1950, Thanda Gosht 1950, Yazid 1951 and Parde ke Pichhe 1953.