The Quilt and Other Stories
Ismat Chughtai · 1911–1991 · India
Originally The Quilt and Other Stories (Urdu) · translated by M. Asaduddin
Why it matters
The title story's glancing view of a neglected wife's affair with her maid put Chughtai on trial for obscenity. A landmark of women's Urdu writing: female desire and bourgeois hypocrisy skewered with wicked candor.
At a glance
short story collectionsatire
Difficulty 4/10fast pace176 pagesCompressed, allusive short stories where meaning turns on what's implied rather than stated.
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