Tahira Naqvi

Clinical Associate Professor

Bio

Where language is concerned, my interest lies primarily in translation of literary texts. Along with works by Saadat Hasan Manto, Munshi Premchand, Khadija Mastur, I have translated the works of the famous India writer, Ismat Chughtai, a project I began in 1983 and one that still continues. Translation offers an opportunity to examine language in all its permutations very closely, providing insights into cultural and linguistic contexts, syntactical and stylistic trends and subsequently an understanding of the role language plays in producing effective and powerful narratives. Recently, after a request of a translation of an English short story and which resulted in my first experiment with translating from English to Urdu, I found myself heady with the excitement of this amazing reversal. Marquez had just died and he is one of my favorite writers, so I started translating his work. So far I have completed ten stories. Translating into Urdu has led me down a path I had long abandoned: writing in Urdu. It has been an unforgettable learning experience for me both as a teacher and a writer.

Areas of Research/Interest

Urdu language and literature, South Asian literature, translation, language pedagogy

Courses

I teach three levels of Urdu: Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced. There is much I could say about my experience as a teacher, but I thought I would include instead a testimonial from an old student. I couldn’t say it any better than she does:

“Professor Naqvi- The movie 'Main Manto' is being released and I am really looking forward to experiencing Sadat Hasan Manto's biography on screen. I wanted to thank you for giving me such an experience, that I still read Urdu and think about our 'Toba Tek Singh' assignment. Although I took your class over a decade ago, it is a priceless gift that keeps on giving. Your class connected me to my roots, my culture, my past and now my present in such a way that I feel proud of being Pakistani on another level. Urdu is truly a beautiful language, and you opened up a world of Urdu literature for your students, especially myself. Today and everyday you are in my thoughts and well wishes, and I am eternally grateful to you. These words do not do justice to my gratitude. I hope the movie on Manto lives up to the wonderful story you hand wrote for us and taught us in its grammatical and literary entirety. Sending lots of love & duas your way.”

External Affiliations

Member of ACTFL: American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages

Member of PEN American Center

Member of ATA: American Translators Association

Developer for the Nationalized Test for Urdu. University of Chicago, University of Oregon

On the Board of Fiction Editors for Catamaran: A Journal of South Asian American Literature

Fellowships/Honors

Citation for Community Service Excellence from the Brooklyn Borough President, New York City, 2014 & 2015

Publications

TRANSLATION (From the Urdu to English)

INDIVIDUAL STORIES 

“The Lihaf Trial” by Ismat Chughtai. Beloved City. Edited by Bapsy Sidhwa. Oxford, Lahore, Pakistan. 2005

“The Lihaf Trial” by Ismat Chughtai. City of Sin and Splendour.” Edited by Bapsy Sidhwa. Penguin, New Delhi, India. 2004

“The Monkey’s Wound” by Hajira Masroor. Annual of Urdu Studies. Vol.19, 2004. 2003

Excerpt from Goodar ka La’l by Valida Afzal Ali. Annual of Urdu Studies. Vol. 18, 2003

Excerpt from Ajeeb Aadmi by Ismat Chughtai. Annual of Urdu Studies, Vol.18, 2003

“A Thorn in the Eye” by Razia Fasih ahmed. Annual of Urdu Studies. Vol.16, 2001

“From Bombay to Bhopal” by Ismat Chughtai. Annual of Urdu Studies. Vol.15, 2000

An excerpt from Kaghazi Hai Pairahan. Annual of Urdu Studies. Vol.15, 2000

“Communal Violence and Literature” by Ismat Chughtai. Annual of Urdu Studies. Vol.15, 2000

“Within the Circle of a Wave,” by Bano Qudsia. Annual of Urdu Studies. Vol.13, 1998

“Roots” by Ismat Chughtai. An Epic Unwritten. Edited and translated from the Urdu by Muhammad Umar Memon. Penguin Books, Ltd., India. 1994

"Parbati" by Farkhanda Lodhi. Blood Into Ink: South Asian and Middle Eastern Women Write War. Westview Press, 1994

"Aunt Scorpion" ( Bichu Phupi) by Ismat Chughtai. The Annual of Urdu Studies. Center for South Asia, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Number 8, 1993

"The Realm of the Heart." An excerpt from Ismat Chughtai's novella Dil ki Duniya. Annual of Urdu Studies. November 8, 1993. 1993 -"The Bridge on the River Shune" by Hijab Imtiaz Ali. Pakistani Literature. Vol. 2. No. 1, Spring 1993

"Masquerade" (Behroop) by Munshi Premchand. Translation. Columbia University, Spring, 1989

"Amarbel," by Ismat Chughtai. Journal of South Asian Literature. Volume 22, no. 1, Winter-Spring 1987

"Clouds Don't Come" (badal nahin ate by Ahmed Ali). South Asian Literature. Volume 22, no 1, Winter-Spring 1987

"Tetwal Dog" (tetwal ka kutta). Journal of South Asian Literature: The Writings of Saadat Hasan Manto. Volume XX, Summer, Fall, 1985. 1985

"Two Hands" (do haath by Ismat Chughtai). Translation. Columbia University, Volume XV, Fall 1985

ARTICLES

“The Question of Country: A Close Reading of Ismat Chughtai’s Jare’N.” Home and the World: South Asia in Transition. Cambridge Scholars Press, 2007

“A Note on Ismat Chughtai’s Non-Fictional Writings.” The Annual of Urdu Studies. Vol.15, 2000

“Remembering Baji: A Journey to Goodar ka La’l.” Annual of Urdu Studies, Vol.18, 2003

“An Introduction to Ajeeb Aadmi.” The Annual of Urdu Studies. Vol. 18, 2003

"Ismat Chughtai: A Tribute." The Annual of Urdu Studies. Center for South Asia, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Number 8, 1993

COLLECTIONS

The Quilt and Other Stories, The Heart Breaks Free, The Wild One. Women Unlimited/Kali for Women Press, New Delhi, India, 2005

My Friend, My Enemy: A Prose Anthology. Ismat Chughtai. Kali For Women, New Delhi, India, May 2001

Cool, Sweet Water by Khadija Mastur. Oxford University Press, Pakistan, 1999

Quilt and Other Stories by Ismat Chughtai. A collection of short fiction by Ismat Chughtai. Sheep Meadow Press, New York, 1994

The Quilt and Other Stories by Ismat Chughtai. Kali for Women Press, New Delhi, India, 1990

Another Lonely Voice: The Life and Works of Saadat Hasan Manto. With an introduction by Leslie Flemming. Vanguard Books Ltd., Lahore, Pakistan, 1985

NOVELLAS AND NOVELS

Vintage Chughtai: The Best of Her Stories. Women Unlimited, New Delhi, India, 2011 

Masooma by Ismat Chughtai, Women Unlimited, New Delhi, India, 2007 

A Very Strange Man by Ismat Chughtai, Women Unlimited, New Delhi, India. 2006 

The Quilt and Other Stories, The Heart Breaks Free, The Wild One. Women Unlimited/Kali for Women Press, New Delhi, India. 2006

The Quilt and Other Stories, The Heart Breaks Free, the Wild One. Oxford University Press, Pakistan. 2006

The Crooked Line (Terhi Lakir) Ismat Chugutai’s novel, to be reprinted by The Feminist Press, New York, in Summer, 2006. 1995

The Crooked Line (Terhi Lakir) A novel by Ismat Chughtai. Kali for Women, New Delhi, India, May, 1995. 1995

The Crooked Line (Terhi Lakir) A novel by Ismat Chughtai. Heinemann International Press, U.K, May, 1995. 1993

The Heart Breaks Free. The Wild One. Two novellas by Ismat Chughtai. Kali for Women Press, New Delhi, 1993. 2007 

A Strange Man (Ajeeb Aadmi). A novel by Ismat Chughtai. Women Unlimited, New Delhi, India, 2007. 2011 

Masooma. A novel by Ismat Chughtai. Women Unlimited, New Delhi, India, 2011. 2013, summer

The Wife and Other Stories. Collection of stories by Ismat Chughtai

ANTHOLOGIZED FICTION (English)

“A Fair Exchange.” And the World Changed: Contemporary Stories by Pakistani Women. Feminist Press at the City University of New York. 2008

“A Fair Exchange.” And the World Changed: Contemporary Stories by Pakistani Women. Edited by Muneeza Shamsie. Women Unlimited. 2005

"A Woman to Love." Catamaran: A Journal of South Asian American Literature. October, 2004

“Chagrin.” Bold Worlds: A Century of American Writing. Edited by Rajni Srikanth and Esther Y. Iwanaga. Januray, 2002

"Lost in the Marketplace." Weber Studies: South-Asian American Literature/Culture, Vol 15, Winter 1998

“Paths Upon Water.” A Line of Cutting Women, Calyx Books, Corvallis, OR. 1998

“Lost in the Marketplace.” Weber Studies Special Issue: South-Asian American Literature/Culture. Vol 15, No 1, Winter 1998

"Song of My Mother." Through the Kitchen Window, Edited by Arlene Voski Avakian. Beacon Press, Massachussetts, 1997

"Love in an Election Year." A Dragonfly in the Sun: An Antholofy of Pakistani Writing in English. Oxford University Press, Pakistan. 1997

"Brave We Are." Handbook Course Materials, vol. "Minorities." Aulis Verla Deubner; Co K G , Koln, Spring , 1996

"A Man of Integrity." The Toronto Review, vol. 15, no.1. Summer 1996. "Beyond the Walls, Amreeka." Contours of the Heart. Asian American Writers Workshop, New York, 1996

“Thank God for the Jews.” Encountering Cultures: Reading and Writing in a Changing World. Edited by Richard Holeton, Stanford Univ. 1995

"All is Not Lost." Crossing the Dark Waters. An Anthology of South Asian-American Literature. Westview Press, May, 1995

"A Clean Break." Arrivals. Longman's Publishing Group, November 1994."Paths Upon Water." Immigrant Women. State University of New York Press, 1994

"Love in an Election Year." Her Mother's Ashes and Other Stories by South Asian Women in Canada and the United States. Toronto South Asian Review Publications, Spring, 1994

"Paths Upon Water." Intercultural Journeys Through Reading and Writing. Harper Collins, 1991

"Thank God for the Jews." Imagining America: Stories from the Promised Land. Persea Books, 1991

"Brave We Are." Home to Stay: Asian American Women's Fiction. The Greenfield Review Press. Winter, 1990

"Paths Upon Water." The Forbidden Stitch: Calyx, A Journal of Art and Literature by Women. Volume 11, # 283, Spring 1989

"Hiatus." Desh Videsh: Massachusetts Review. Spring, 1989<br>"Journeys" (renamed "Beyond the Walls, Amreeka"). Journal of South Asian Literature. Volume XXI, Winter-Spring, 1986

"Summer Sojourn." Bridge Magazine. Volume 9, 1984. "Summer Deluge." Wooster Review, June 1983

SHORT FICTION COLLECTIONS (English)

Dying in a Strange Country: Short Stories. Toronto South Asian Review Press. Fall 2001

Attar of Roses and Other Stories from Pakistan. A collection of short stories. Lynne Rienner Publishers. Colorado, 1997

WORK IN PROGRESS First novel in English

A Hot Wind. Translation of three Ismat Chughtai novels: The Mad Lover (saudaii), The Wild Pigeon (junglii kabuutar), and Three Idiots (tiin anaaRii)