River of Fire: Aag Ka Darya [Hardcover]

Qurratulain Hyder (Author), Qurratul'ain (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1999

Never before available in English, River of Fire, originally published as Aag ka Darya in 1959, is without question the most important novel of 20th-century Urdu literature. An amazing, sui generis book, River of Fire spans two and a half millennia. Set during four Indian epochs (the classical, the medieval, the colonial, and the modern post-national), the novel is a meditation on history and human nature, tracing four souls through time. Each section is linked by characters who bear, in every period, the same names: Gautam, Champa, Kamal, and Cyril. Gautam (appearing first as a student of mysticism at the Forest University of Shravasti in the 4th century B.C.E.) and Champa (throughout embodying the enigmatic experience of Indian women) begin and end the novel; Muslim Kamal appears mid-way through, as the Muslims did, and loses himself in the Indian landscape; and Cyril, the Englishman, appears later still. In different eras, different relations form among the four -- romance and war, possession and dispossession. Yet together the characters reflect the oneness of human nature: amidst the nationalist and religious upheavals of Indian history, Hyder argues for a culture that is inclusive. Interweaving parables, legends, dreams, diaries, and letters, Hyder's prose is lyrical and witty. There is really no book like River of Fire. Qurratulain Hyder was awarded the Bharatiya Gnanpith, India's highest literary award, in 1989, and here is her masterpiece, her broadest canvas and her finest art.

Editorial Reviews

Review

[River of Fire] is to Urdu fiction what A Hundred Years of Solitude is to Hispanic literature. Qurratulain Hyder has a place alongside her exact contemporaries, Milan Kundera and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, as one of the world's major living writers. -- Aamer Hussein, The [London] Times Literary Supplement

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 446 pages
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation (November 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811214184
• ISBN-13: 978-0811214186
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,779,624 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great novel, March 11, 2000

By 

Abida Ripley (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: River of Fire: Aag Ka Darya (Hardcover)

This is one of the finest pieces of literature I have read. There is history, philosophy, psychology and above all human relationship. I like the engaging style, the weaving of the events and the passion that can be seen through the pages.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, enchanting and a victim of regional bias, December 10, 2001

By 

Adnan (Bhopal,India) - See all my reviews

This review is from: River of Fire: Aag Ka Darya (Hardcover)

The story begins with Nilambar Gautam, a forest university student who travels the country at the time when Buddhist ideas were sweeping through India, he mets Hari Shanker a Buddhist and falls in love with Champa, the time passes and the next Gautam, Hari Shanker and Champa surface in new era- this time it is Moghul era and the arrival of Islam in India. Abul Mansoor Kamaluddin arrives from Baghdad and meets Champa, Hari and Gautam. The characters depict the civilisational conflicts, the mingling of the two great religions and the shaping of the new nation. The third era begins with the Europian advent in Asia and with Cyril Ashley, an English, the fourth character arrives in the book. The four characters return in successive periods in different roles until the bloody partition changes the geographical boundaries of the country. The magnificent description, the vast continuum of time and the canvas of the novel places it at par with Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, if not above. Had the book translated when it had been written, the author would have been ranked above Kundera and Marquez today.