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Unforgettable Khushwant Singh: His Finest Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry and Humour
Comprising 99 stories, essays, extracts, poems and articles (one for each year of his life), the book is divided into fifteen sections, each one corresponding to a genre that he excelled in. Family Matters contains extracts from his autobiography and some personal narratives, My Beloved Country has some extraordinary writing about India, The Sikhs comprises excerpts from his books essays on the community and translations of the Sikh hymns, The Uses and Abuses of Religion features his articles on the dangers of communalism and a sublime meditation on religion, his accounts of Pakistan and Pakistanis are included in Passage to Pakistan, he wrote interestingly about famous people all his life and twelve of his profiles feature in Singular People, a self-taught naturalist, he was passionate about conservation-The Ferocity and Flamboyance of Nature has writings on this theme, Sex on My Mind contains some entertaining ruminations on sex, one of the subjects that he was most associated with in the popular imagination. As with sex, so with humour-a few of his funniest jokes find a place in A Merry Heart. The section Enthusiasms, Rants and Soliloquies has a fair representation of his electrifying polemics on a variety of subjects. The most insightful of his thoughts on life, dealing with adversity, ageing and death find a place In How to Live, How to Die. Selections from the six novels he published are to be found in The Novels, Portrait of a Lady and Other Stories features the eponymous story along with a few others, a great admirer of writers in Urdu, Punjabi and Hindi, he translated many of their works, some of which can be found in Toba Tek Singh: Fiction in Translation and A Passion for Poetry. Together, the various pieces in the book showcase Khushwant Singh's exceptional accomplishments as a writer.
480 pages, Paperback
Published September 1, 2017
2 people are currently reading
15 people want to read
About the author
Khushwant Singh
295 books1,437 followersKhushwant Singh, (Punjabi: ਖ਼ੁਸ਼ਵੰਤ ਸਿੰਘ, Hindi: खुशवंत सिंह) born on 2 February 1915 in Hadali, Undivided India, (now a part of Pakistan), was a prominent Indian novelist and journalist. Singh's weekly column, "With Malice towards One and All", carried by several Indian newspapers, was among the most widely-read columns in the country.
An important post-colonial novelist writing in English, Singh is best known for his trenchant secularism, his humor, and an abiding love of poetry. His comparisons of social and behavioral characteristics of Westerners and Indians are laced with acid wit.
An important post-colonial novelist writing in English, Singh is best known for his trenchant secularism, his humor, and an abiding love of poetry. His comparisons of social and behavioral characteristics of Westerners and Indians are laced with acid wit.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 23, 2022
99 / Unforgettable Khushwant Singh
Rating 4/5
This book comprises of 99 articles or pieces of writing (written by Khushwant Singh), celebrating and/or dedicated to, an year in the life of Khushwant Singh. The book appears to be a collectors' edition book. Page quality is really good, feels good to hold, however the cover of the book has a thin polythene layer, which kind of cries itself out the more you hold the book. Hence I had to put a wrapper on the book all the while I read this (not to damage the cover).
One thing which brought me distaste right in the beginning of the book and which was also off-putting, was the introduction by David Davidar. I understand he is the boss of Aleph which published this book, but putting 30 odd pages about Khushwant Singh comprising of plagiarized content of Khushwant's own writing re-phrased by David Davidar doesn't exactly sound nice, does it?
If you have read sufficient Khushwant Singh you realize, "Hey, wait a min, this is actually pinched content, just the rendition of words have changed". Very disappointing. I left the introduction midway, if you start this book, the introduction by David Davidar is a must must avoid as it bores you and I felt it to be uncourteous too.
The book has so many articles, many of which I had read before (and many new), but, it was good to read again. Articles have been classified as or on basis of following genre, Khushwant Singh's writing on fiction, non fiction, autobiography(self), translations , (Urdu) poetry, Sikhism, known people, seasons.
I have to re-iterate, I do not subscribe to Khushwant Singh's opinion of RSS, I am a huge fan of RSS, no matter how many times I read or re-read Khushwant Singh's writing, I cannot fall in the same line of thoughts (as Khushwant Singh) when it comes to RSS. I have seen first hand of what help RSS can be, so I beg to differ.
Few people on whom articles are present include, Umrao Jaan Ada, Faiz, Iqbal (Shikwa), Manto, Jinnah, Gandhi family, Sir Vidia, RK Narayan, Nirad Chaudhari.
Few excerpts have been provided from or around his books like Mano Majra, In the company of women, Sunset Club, Burial at Sea.
Overall it was a nice read, but if you have already read sufficient Khushwant Singh, there is not much new you are going to find over here, except the fact that the book print quality and page quality is nice, feels good to hold in hand and show off!
Sad part is it lacks pictures!
Cheers.
Rating 4/5
This book comprises of 99 articles or pieces of writing (written by Khushwant Singh), celebrating and/or dedicated to, an year in the life of Khushwant Singh. The book appears to be a collectors' edition book. Page quality is really good, feels good to hold, however the cover of the book has a thin polythene layer, which kind of cries itself out the more you hold the book. Hence I had to put a wrapper on the book all the while I read this (not to damage the cover).
One thing which brought me distaste right in the beginning of the book and which was also off-putting, was the introduction by David Davidar. I understand he is the boss of Aleph which published this book, but putting 30 odd pages about Khushwant Singh comprising of plagiarized content of Khushwant's own writing re-phrased by David Davidar doesn't exactly sound nice, does it?
If you have read sufficient Khushwant Singh you realize, "Hey, wait a min, this is actually pinched content, just the rendition of words have changed". Very disappointing. I left the introduction midway, if you start this book, the introduction by David Davidar is a must must avoid as it bores you and I felt it to be uncourteous too.
The book has so many articles, many of which I had read before (and many new), but, it was good to read again. Articles have been classified as or on basis of following genre, Khushwant Singh's writing on fiction, non fiction, autobiography(self), translations , (Urdu) poetry, Sikhism, known people, seasons.
I have to re-iterate, I do not subscribe to Khushwant Singh's opinion of RSS, I am a huge fan of RSS, no matter how many times I read or re-read Khushwant Singh's writing, I cannot fall in the same line of thoughts (as Khushwant Singh) when it comes to RSS. I have seen first hand of what help RSS can be, so I beg to differ.
Few people on whom articles are present include, Umrao Jaan Ada, Faiz, Iqbal (Shikwa), Manto, Jinnah, Gandhi family, Sir Vidia, RK Narayan, Nirad Chaudhari.
Few excerpts have been provided from or around his books like Mano Majra, In the company of women, Sunset Club, Burial at Sea.
Overall it was a nice read, but if you have already read sufficient Khushwant Singh, there is not much new you are going to find over here, except the fact that the book print quality and page quality is nice, feels good to hold in hand and show off!
Sad part is it lacks pictures!
Cheers.
December 5, 2020
This book is an anthology. It is a good start to the world of Kushwant Singh's work.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews