The Dog of Tithwal

Manto's empathy and narrative economy invite comparisons with Chekhov. These readable, idiomatic translations have all the agile swiftness and understated poignancy that parallel suggests. ---Boyd Tonkin, Wall Street Journal

Stories from "the undisputed master of the modern Indian short story" encircle the marginalised, forgotten lives of Bombay, set against the backdrop of the India-Pakistan Partition. (Salman Rushdie)

By far the most comprehensive collection of stories by this 20th-century master available in English.

A master of the short story, Saadat Hasan Manto opens a window onto Bombay's demimonde—its prostitutes, rickshaw drivers, artists, and strays—while also probing the pain and bewilderment of the Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs ripped apart by the India-Pakistan Partition.

Manto is best known for his dry-eyed examination of the violence, horrors, and reverberations from the Partition. From a stray dog caught in the crossfire at the fresh border of India and Pakistan, to friendly neighbours turned enemy soldiers pausing for tea together in a momentary ceasefire, Manto shines incandescent light into hidden corners with an unflinching gaze and a fierce humanism.

With a foreword by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Vijay Seshadri, these stories are essential reading for our current moment where divisiveness is erupting into violence in so many parts of the world.