- Paperback: 516 pages
- Publisher: Urdu Project (May 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0978069552
- ISBN-13: 978-0978069551
- Product Dimensions: 1.5 x 2.3 x 0.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 721 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #543,032 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Product Description
The world's first and longest magical fantasy HOSHRUBA was compiled in the Urdu language by two of its greatest prose writers. Spread over eight thousand pages, it reached the summits of popularity and acclaim never attained by any other epic in the history of Urdu literature. But the richness of its language and its length deterred translations for more than 125 years. In this first translation of this iconic fantasy by Musharraf Ali Farooqi, whose translation of THE ADVENTURES OF AMIR HAMZA was hailed by the international press as a gift to world literature, we enter the magical world of Hoshruba, conjured in the untold past by sorcerers defying the laws of God and the physical world. Filled with dazzling illusions and occult realms inhabited by powerful sorceresses and diabolic monsters, Hoshruba had a fixed life, and a designated conqueror who would use its magical key to unravel it one day. The first book of the HOSHRUBA series begins with the giant Laqa entering Hoshruba's protection, and its sorcerer emperor finding himself at war with Laqa's arch fiend, Amir Hamza the Lord of the Auspicious Planetary Conjunction, who pursues the giant with his numerous tricksters and a young prince - the yet to be known conqueror-designate of Hoshruba. When the prince is kidnapped by the devious trickster girls sent by the sorcerer emperor, it falls to an extraordinary trickster and a rebel sorceress to continue his mission. ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR: Musharraf Ali Farooqi (www.mafarooqi.com) is an author, novelist and translator. His critically acclaimed translation of THE ADVENTURES OF AMIR HAMZA (2007) was published by the Random House Modern Library. His children’s picture book THE COBBLER'S HOLIDAY OR WHY ANTS DON'T WEAR SHOES (2008) came out from A Neal Porter Book/Roaring Brook Press. His novel THE STORY OF A WIDOW (2008) was published by Alfred A. Knopf Canada. A translation of contemporary Urdu poet Afzal Ahmed Syed's selected poetry, ROCOCO AND OTHER WORLDS (2010) is forthcoming from the Wesleyan University Press Poetry Series. Website: www.hoshruba.com
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hoshruba is fascinating but two-dimensional, Jun 8 2009
By Syed Imran - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Hoshruba: The Land and the Tilism (Paperback)
Hoshruba is a very good example of the kind of stories we grew up hearing. The good hero always wins and the evil sorcerers who imprison fair damsels get killed. The characters in Hoshruba do not rise above these stereotypes. Farooqui does a good job of translating the magical and mythical nature of Hoshruba. But I wish that instead of being a faithful translator, he would cut to the chase and add some modern dimensions to the story.After a while, it gets tedious reading about how the tricksters get trapped by sorcerers and then kill them using their cunning. There is no middle ground in Hoshruba: the tricksters are the pinnacle of cunning, the fair damsels are all beautiful beyond imagination, the sorcerers are vile and powerful and the lovers are the epitome of fidelity. Its black or white with no shades of gray.
The characters are well-described - but not well developed. Familiarity with the characters, their motives and thoughts is assumed.
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Magic of the Urdu Epic, Mar 5 2012
By Robert Lebling - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Hoshruba: The Land and the Tilism (Paperback)
Imagine "The Lord of the Rings" told from the viewpoint of the Dark Lord Sauron. Imagine it as eight volumes instead of three, totaling more than 8000 pages. That in simplest terms is "Hoshruba."But in this case we're talking about an Urdu epic, a vast magical fantasy penned in India in the 19th century. The translator is fresh from a publishing triumph, "The Adventures of Amir Hamza." The Prophet's uncle Hamza, transformed into a superhero, is a key player in this tale as well. But the story centers on Afrasiyab, a sorcerer/emperor who rules over Hoshruba (meaning "Senses-Ravishing"), a magical world or tilism where anything can happen and usually does.
Look for deceit, betrayal, romance, war, violence, bizarre plot twists and of course magic. Sorcerers and sorceresses abound in the thousands; giants, monsters and demons materialize when you least expect it. In the most common clashes, sorcerers battle "tricksters" - warriors who use cleverness to prevail, rather than spells.
Afrasiyab may be an "evil emperor," but his character and foibles, coupled with the great challenges arrayed against him, make him far more interesting than any conventional hero.
This cycle of tales was born in Lucknow, brainchild of storyteller Mir Ahmed Ali, who wanted to thrill audiences with a turbocharged, freewheeling variant of the much older Indo-Persian Amir Hamza epic. The first published version of the Hoshruba tales was written by Jah, another Lucknow storyteller, in the early 1880s.
Translator Farooqi brings a magic of his own to this first book in the series. He prepares the reader with useful background on magical matters, Amir Hamza and the Tilism and its Master. Also appended are useful lists of characters and notes on their powers and weapons. The adventures are crafted for English audiences in a comfortable, readable style, and are packed with color and amazement, zipping by at breakneck speed.
[A version of this review appeared in Saudi Aramco World, Sep/Oct 2009.]
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