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Attia Hosain (20 October 1913 – 25 January 1998) was a British-Indian novelist, author, writer, broadcaster, journalist and actor.''Distant Traveller'', new and selected fiction: edited by Aamer Hossein with Shama Habibullah, with foreword and afterword by them, and introduction by
Ritu Menon Ritu Menon is an Indian feminist, writer and publisher. Career In 1984, Menon co-founded Kali for Women, India's first exclusively feminist publishing house, along with Urvashi Butalia, her longtime collaborator. In 2003, ''Kali for Women'' shu ...
(Women Unlimited, India 2013). This contains the first publication of a section of Attia Hosain's unfinished novel, ''No New Lands, No New Seas''.
She was a woman of letters and a diasporic writer. She wrote in English although her mother tongue was Urdu. She wrote the semi-autobiographical novel '' Sunlight on a Broken Column'' (1961) and a collection of short stories titled ''Phoenix Fled''. Her career began in England in semi-exile making a contribution to post-colonial literature.
Anita Desai Anita Desai (born Anita Mazumdar, 24 June 1937) is an Indian novelist and Emerita John E. Burchard Professor of Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times. She received t ...
,
Vikram Seth Vikram Seth (born 20 June 1952) is an Indian people, Indian novelist and poet. He has written several novels and poetry books. He has won several awards such as Padma Shri, Sahitya Akademi Award, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, WH Smith Literary Awar ...
,
Aamer Hussein Aamer Hussein (born 8 April 1955, Karachi) is a Pakistani criticBiography
Aamer Hussein official website. 2 ...
and
Kamila Shamsie Kamila Shamsie (; born 13 August 1973) is a Pakistani and British writer and novelist who is best known for her award-winning novel '' Home Fire'' (2017). Named on ''Granta'' magazine's list of 20 best young British writers, Shamsie has been d ...
have acknowledged her influence.


Background and education

Attia was born in
Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...
into the liberal Kidwai clan of Oudh. Her father Shahid Hosain Kidwai, was the Cambridge-educated Taluqdar of Gadia, and her mother, Begum Nisar Fatima came from the Alvi family of Kakori. From her father she inherited a keen interest in politics and nationalism. From her mother's family of poets and scholars she drew a knowledge of Urdu, Persian and Arabic. She was the first woman from her background to graduate from
Lucknow University University of Lucknow (informally known as Lucknow University, and LU) is one of the oldest public state university based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. LU's main campus is located at Badshah Bagh, University Road area of the city with a second ...
, after having attended La Martiniere School for Girls and
Isabella Thoburn College The Isabella Thoburn College (formerly the Lucknow Women's College and often called informally IT College) is a private multidisciplinary (humanities, social sciences, sciences, commerce, management and engineering) college for women in Luckno ...
, Lucknow. Hosain grew up in two cultures, reading the canon of English and European literature as well as the Quran. Attia came of age as the struggle for independence was gaining strength. Attia's father was a friend of
Motilal Nehru Motilal Nehru (6 May 1861 – 6 February 1931) was an Indian lawyer, activist, and politician affiliated with the Indian National Congress. He served as the Congress President twice, from 1919 to 1920 and from 1928 to 1929. He was a patriarch ...
at the Inns of Court. In 1933, Attia was encouraged by
Sarojini Naidu Sarojini Naidu (Birth name, née Chattopadhyay) (; 13 February 1879 – 2 March 1949) was an Indian political activist and poet who served as the first Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Governor of United Provinces, after Independence Day (India), Indi ...
, "my own ideal of womanhood from childhood", and attended the
All India Women's Conference The All India Women's Conference (AIWC) is a non-governmental organisation ( NGO) based in Delhi. It was founded in 1927 by Margaret Cousins in order to improve educational efforts for women and children and has expanded its scope to also tack ...
in Calcutta. In her own words, Attia said, "I had been very influenced by the political thoughts of the Left in the Progressive Writers' Movement, through my friends Mulk Raj Anand, Sajjad Zaheer and Sahibzada Mahmuduzaffar and was asked by Desmond Young to write for ''The Pioneer''." She also wrote for ''The Statesman'', Calcutta. She married her cousin, Ali Bahadur Habibullah, her mother's sister's son, against the wishes of their families. They had two children, Shama Habibullah and
Waris Hussein Waris Hussein (''né'' Habibullah; born 9 December 1938) is a British-Indian television and film director. At the beginning of his career he was employed by the BBC as its youngest drama director. He directed early episodes of ''Doctor Who'', inc ...
. In the early 1940s the couple moved to Bombay, where Ali Bahadur was in government service, first in the Textile Commission and later as Supply Commissioner for South East Asia after the outbreak of World War II. She turned her home into an extension of her childhood open house, a Lakhnavi "adda", a gathering that attracted an eclectic crowd of people, writers, filmmakers, members of social and business world of the city, which expanded to include her husband's more western world. A young Raj Thapar was brought in by her future husband Romesh Thapar to meet Attia, whom he called 'the only woman with a man's mind." Ali Bahadur Habibullah moved to England with his family in 1947, before India became independent, posted to the Indian High Commission, in the newly created Trade Commission. When India was partitioned into India and Pakistan, the division of the country and the separation of two religious communities caused Attia great pain. "We belong to a generation that has lived with our hearts in pieces," she said. Later in life she wrote: "Here I am, I have chosen to live in this country which has given me so much; but I cannot get out of my blood the fact that I had the blood of my ancestors for 800 years in another country."


Writing

In London, where a diaspora of displaced people had gathered in a post-war world, Attia Hosain became a ''Qissa-go'', the storyteller of her own roots. Her stories appeared in the English magazine ''Lilliput'' and the American Journal, the ''Atlantic Monthly''. Despite her cosmopolitanism, her creative directions as writer, broadcaster with the BBC and actress were enriched by her own identity and diverse cultural strands. In 1953, ''Phoenix Fled'', her first collection of short stories, which are set just before the partition, was published. In 1961, Chatto and Windus published ''Sunlight on a broken Column''. For a long time this was thought to be her only published written work, until ''Distant Traveller, a collection, new & selected fiction'' was published in 2012, to honour her coming centenary year, which included excerpts of her unfinished novel, ''No New Lands, No New Seas'', set in England. Many of her stories have now been included in other anthologies. In 1998 ''Sunlight on a broken Column'' and ''Phoenix Fled'' were re-launched as Virago Modern Classics. Attia Hosian was reborn as a writer enjoying a considerable reputation. To the young writers, she wrote: "You must keep trying because it is as essential as drawing breath – like exhaling! All the thoughts breathed out and shaping themselves visibly after being inside the cells of the brain, and then released. If you hold your breath and do not breathe out, you will suffocate." Attia did not apologize for English as her chosen language of expression. "In the struggle for freedom, English was both a weapon, as well as the key to what I might call the ideological arsenal. The result of this clashing and merging of different cultures was that I, like many others, lived in many worlds of thoughts and many centuries at the same time, shifting from one to the other with bewildering rapidity in a matter of moments", ''Writing in a foreign tongue'' by Attia Hosain. To the end of her life, she retained a fierce, iconoclastic political consciousness and was scornful of hypocrisy, extremism and sectarianism. She struggled for harmony between the languages, cultures and beliefs that surrounded her and drew strength from socialism, humanism and enlightened Islam, although she accepted no philosophy without rigorous analysis.


Fiction

* ''Phoenix Fled'', London: Chatto & Windus, 1953. A collection of short stories. Reissued by Virago UK, 1988. Indian edition, Rupa & Co, 1993 - Foreword by Anita Desai. * '' Sunlight on a Broken Column'' - London: Chatto & Windus, UK, 1961, A novel; Reissued by Virago, UK, 1988; Reissued by Virago, UK, 2021, with introduction by
Kamila Shamsie Kamila Shamsie (; born 13 August 1973) is a Pakistani and British writer and novelist who is best known for her award-winning novel '' Home Fire'' (2017). Named on ''Granta'' magazine's list of 20 best young British writers, Shamsie has been d ...
Indian Editions: (1) Arnold Heinemann, India, 1979 - Foreword by
Mulk Raj Anand Mulk Raj Anand (12 December 1905 – 28 September 2004) was an Indian writer in the English language, recognised for his depiction of the lives of the poorer class in the traditional Indian society. One of the pioneers of Indo-Anglian fiction, ...
; (2) Penguin India, 1992 - Foreword by
Anita Desai Anita Desai (born Anita Mazumdar, 24 June 1937) is an Indian novelist and Emerita John E. Burchard Professor of Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times. She received t ...
* ''Distant Traveller,'' new and selected fiction: edited by Aamer Hussein with Shama Habibullah, with foreword and afterword by them, and introduction by Ritu Menon (Women Unlimited, India 2013). This contains the first publication of a section of Hosain's unfinished novel, ''No New Lands, No New Seas''.


Excerpts etc

* ''Indian short stories.'' Edited by Iqbal Masud &
Mulk Raj Anand Mulk Raj Anand (12 December 1905 – 28 September 2004) was an Indian writer in the English language, recognised for his depiction of the lives of the poorer class in the traditional Indian society. One of the pioneers of Indo-Anglian fiction, ...
. The New India Publishing Company, 1946. Attia Hosain: "The Parrot in the Cage". * ''Cooking the Indian Way.'' Ed. Attia Hosain, Sita Pasricha, London: Paul Hamlyn, 1962. * "Light on Divided Worlds", ''The Independent'', 18 August 1988. By Attia Hosain celebrating the Virago edition of her books ''Sunlight on a Broken Column'' and ''Phoenix Fled'', 1981. * ''Loaves and Wishes'' – writers writing on Food. Edited by Antonia Hill. London: Virago Press, 1992. * ''The Inner Courtyard.'' Edited by Lakshmi Holmstrom. Attia Hosain: "The First Party" (1), London: Virago Press, 1990 (2) India version – Rupa & Co., 1993 * ''Infinite Riches - short stories''. Edited by Lynn Knight. London: Virago Modern Classics, London: Virago Press, 1993. Attia Hosain: P. 176, "Time is Unredeemable". * ''Voices of the Crossing -'' The impact of Britain on writers from Asia, the Caribbean and Africa.
Ferdinand Dennis Ferdinand Dennis (born 18 March 1956)"Ferdinand Dennis"
,
Naseem Khan (eds), London: Serpent's Tail, 1998. Attia Hosain: p. 19 "Deep Roots". * ''Shaam-e-Awadh -'' Writings on Lucknow. Edited by VeenaTalwar. Oldenburg, 2007. Attia Hosain: Excerpt from ''Sunlight on a Broken Column'' (ref. pp. 165–178). * ''Unbound'' – 2000 years of Indian Women's writing. Edited by Annie Zaidi. Aleph Book Co., 2015. Attia Hosain: Excerpt from ''Sunlight on a Broken Column'' (ref. p. 52 on marriage).


Recordings and broadcasts


BBC Eastern Services (Urdu)

Shakespeare plays – translations. Played various parts, including Lady Macbeth, Desdemona, alongside Zia Moinuddin, Ijaz Hussain Batalvi, Amira Ahuja. Also in Urdu – translations of plays by
Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...
and
Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A List of Nobel laureates in Literature, Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramat ...
, among others, as lead actor.


In English

BBC Third Programme ''Writing in a Foreign Tongue'', 7 May 1956. ''Woman's Hour'', "Passport to Friendship", 1965 Audio conversations (public and private) with Literary Estate of Attia Hosain.


Theatre and film

* Film treatment for proposed film ''Mourning Raga'' by Ellis Peters (
Edith Pargeter Edith Mary Pargeter (28 September 1913 – 14 October 1995), also known by her pen name Ellis Peters, was an English author of works in many categories, especially history and historical fiction, and was also honoured for her translations of ...
) * ''The Bird of Time'' by Peter Mayne at the Savoy Theatre, London, 1961


As journalist

* ''The Pioneer'' (Lucknow). Ed. Desmond Young * ''The Statesman'' (Calcutta). Ed. Evan Charlton


Organizations

* Attended foundation of Progressive Writer's Association hrough Mahmudu Zaffar and Ali (Bunnay) Zaheer* Attended All-India Women's Conference Calcutta, 1933 hrough Sarojini Naidu


References


Further reading

* The Literary Estate of Attia Hosain, 1928–1998. Diaries, letters, images, notes.
''A part of the whole''
Rakshandha Jalil, The Hindu, 2 Mar 2013. * ''I am a Universalist-Humanist,'' Nilufer E. Bharucha. Biblio 3.7-8 (July–August 1998). * ''Unsettling Partition: Literature, Gender, Memory.'' Jill Didur, 2007. * ''An image of India by an Indian Woman: Attia Hosain's Life and Fiction'' -'Unpublished MA thesis. Laura Bondi. For University Degli Studio Venezia, 1993. * ''Dwelling in the Archive'': ''Women Writing House, Home, and History in Late Colonial India.''
Antoinette Burton Antoinette M. Burton is an American historian, and professor of history and Bastian Professor of Global and Transnational Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. On November 23, 2015, Burton was named Chair of the University of I ...
. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
"Hosain, Attia Shahid"
Anita Desai Anita Desai (born Anita Mazumdar, 24 June 1937) is an Indian novelist and Emerita John E. Burchard Professor of Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times. She received t ...
. ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' * ''Attia Hosain, Her Life and Work.'' Lakshmi Holmstrom. ''Indian Review of Books'' 8–9, 1991. * Mushirul Hasan. "The Heart in Pieces Generation", ''The Indian Express'', 21 February 1998. * ''The Silent Gap''.
Shashi Deshpande Shashi Deshpande (born 1938) is an Indian novelist. She is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Padma Shri Award in 1990 and 2009 respectively. Biography She was born on 19 august 1938 in Dharwad, Karnataka, the second daughter of ...
. Biblio May–June 2013. *
"Attia Hosain (1913-1998) - The Sunlight on a Broken Column"
', ''Batul Mukhtiar'', Blog, 1 May 2017.


External links

*
Making Britain: Attia Hosain page
'' The Open University. *
Attia Hosain Collection: finding aid
'. The Brunel University, London *
Attia Hosain
'.
Muneeza Shamsie Muneeza Shamsie (born 1944) is a Pakistani writer, critic, literary journalist, bibliographer and editor. She is the author of a literary history ''Hybrid Tapestries: The Development of Pakistani English Literature'' (Oxford University Press) ...
. The Literary Encyclopedia. *
Attia Hosain, A Liberal Voice
'. Rakshanda Jalil. Blog - Hindustani Awaaz: Literature, Culture and Society. December 2012.
Literature Help: Novels: Plot Overview 514: Sunlight on a Broken Column.
Harappa, Glimpses of South Asia before 1947. 19 May 1991.


Video references

*
Attia Hosain - A life.
' Urdu & English interview and comments by
Mulk Raj Anand Mulk Raj Anand (12 December 1905 – 28 September 2004) was an Indian writer in the English language, recognised for his depiction of the lives of the poorer class in the traditional Indian society. One of the pioneers of Indo-Anglian fiction, ...
and
Gopalkrishna Gandhi Gopalkrishna Devadas Gandhi (born 22 April 1945) is a former administrator and diplomat who served as the 22nd Governor of West Bengal serving from 2004 to 2009. He is the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji). As a forme ...
. Nehru Centre, London. 1998.
Literature Help: Novels: Plot Overview 514: Sunlight on a Broken Column.

Lecture on Attia Hosain
by Dr. Anand Prakash, Professor (Retd) of English, University of Delhi. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hosain, Attia 1913 births 1998 deaths Writers from Lucknow La Martinière College, Lucknow alumni Women writers from Uttar Pradesh 20th-century Indian Muslims University of Lucknow alumni 20th-century Indian women writers Indian women novelists 20th-century Indian novelists Indian radio presenters Indian women radio presenters Isabella Thoburn College alumni Novelists from Uttar Pradesh