SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The introduction sets out the importance of a full-length study of Sarshar's work for an understanding of the history of Urdu prose narrative. Such information as is available about his life is given in Chapter I, together with a "brief account of his works related to the various periods of his life in which they were written. The historical setting of his life and work is then considered, with particular reference to Lucknow, the city where he spent most of his life and to which his works are intimately related (Chapter II). Chapter III examines his early work (pre-1879) showing how his main ideas were formed "before he attempted the task of presenting them through the medium of fictional narrative. The existing tradition of prose narrative fiction is then discussed (Chapter IV), since Sarshar's first and greatest work is closely linked with this tradition. Chapters V-IX examine his major works one "by one, showing the steady development of Sarshar's art towards the standards of the modern novel (Chapters V-VII), a later reversion to the older tradition (Chapter VIII), and a final period of very rapid decline (Chapter IX). The account of his major works is completed by a chapter on his translations (Chapter X), and finally a conclusion briefly sums up Sarshar's position in the history of Urdu prose fiction.