Saadat Hasan Manto’s long essay on Maxim Gorky ends on the following lines:
“Gorky too was a barefoot, starving individual of this group and now he is the greatest thinker, artist, prophet, raconteur, short-story writer and allegorizer of the same nation.”
Manto’s name is not mentioned as compiler in the May 1935 ‘Russian Literature Number’ of Humayun but the truth is that the whole issue was indeed compiled by Manto – for which the editor has thanked the former. In this issue, a number of Russian short stories and poems have been translated by Manto himself and he has also written two important articles. The first is A Bird’s Eye View of Russian Literature and the second article is about Pushkin. Indeed, he extended the bird’s eye view of Russian literature by writing essays on Gorky, Chekhov, Pushkin, etc. in a distinct style. The credit for introducing Pushkin into the consciousness of Urdu literature for the first time goes to Manto. He writes:
The dead land of Russia gave birth to a spellbinding poet by the name of Pushkin whose intoxicating songs gave life to the environment of literature for a long time.”
And further he says, casting a critical glance on Pushkin’s poetry:
“Pushkin’s spell is natural, he narrates an ordinary thing in such a poetic manner full of ecstasy which only he is able to do. This spell-binding creative power was the philosopher’s stone invented by Pushkin, which has granted brilliance like pure gold to every verse.”
These lines reveal not only Manto’s poetic understanding, but also his zealous interest in Russian literature. In the same period, he wrote a brief essay under the title Ishtiraaki Shayari (Socialist Poetry) published in the Annual of Shaayir in 1937. A meaningful analysis of Russian socialist poetry has been done in this essay. The essay clearly indicates Manto’s great affinity for the new socialist poetry which had fervour, anger and warmth. He writes at one place:
“After studying the new Soviet literature, it is absolutely proven that this view of capitalists that imagination is silenced […] is fictitious. Every movement of the red pens of the Red land draws a cancellation line on this certainty.”
After compiling the Russian Literature Number of Humayun, Manto also compiled the Russian Number of Alamgir, whose editor Muzaffar Hussain Shamim remarked spontaneously:
“At this time, the gentlemen who are busy enriching Urdu with translations, among them a unique distinction is enjoyed by my young, courageous and promising friend Mr Saadat Hasan Manto. The gentleman has deemed one country (Russia) and the literature of its language as his special topic, so that his essays published in Urdu journals have received praise from the connoisseurs.”
Russian revolutionaries of the Nihilist movement on their way to execution. Manto engaged with the ideas and actions of these 19th-century rebels
Manto has written a long introduction in this Number, which is directly related to Russian literature. One of Manto’s essays is titled Surkh Inquilab (Red Revolution). In this essay, he says that “A slight sketch of the great revolution of Russia has been presented.” It begins with the Tsarist old order; the government of Alexander I; the secret organization of the Russian soldiers in 1817, the Union of Salvation, afterwards the Union of Prosperity; the death of Alexander in 1835; mutual indignation and then at this moment the declaration of revolt; punishments to the rebels; hardships; changes in education and curriculum; abundance of spies; restrictions over the pen and arrests; the death of Nicholas in 1855; and the formation of the revolutionary Nihilist group. All of these are expressed in Turgenev’s novel Fathers and Sons.
Manto gained a particular insight, from the Russian experience, into how political circumstances become a part of the creation of the novel and the short story. He writes:
“Turgenev sees that the students of the centers of knowledge were totally separate from the people in their ideology of life. He sees a new spirit working within them. In fact, these nihilists were unique among their kind who taught the lesson of renewal. Blue springs doubled the beauty of their wise faces. In the place of ignorance (that is) Russia, beauty was inviting revolution.”
With the mention of rulers and leaders, Manto’s discussion comes to Lenin; the revolutionary movement of students; the labour unions; Marxist literature; change of the environment; revolution knocking at the door.
And so, he writes:
“Billions of people are busy in the completion of the new socialist tasks in their fervour. Now everyone in Russia is literate. Every child is provided for by the government…the socialists are creating future supporters and allies in the group of Russian children. Inclusion of Russian women has freed them from centuries of servitude. Now the basis of marriage is neither upon religion nor any court agreement; the group of scholars and writers is busy in creative work and generally according to Russians is a grand shared point of view. They are certain that they are building the mode for a new world and that the future of Man is about to become glorious thanks to their efforts.”
From these lines it is clearly evident as to how much Manto was influenced by the revolution in Russia and how much of a supporter of socialism he was. Perhaps he even considered it the only path to human salvation and prosperity. Influenced by the circumstances of Marx, Lenin, etc and the revolutions that they inspired, Manto directly wrote many essays on peasants and workers in journals.
In one essay Peasant Worker, he writes even at the outset,
“Our experiences of 2 years, which we have gathered while distributing aid money in the famine-hit area, have validated our longstanding thoughts and opinions that these mishaps, to prevent which we are trying through external sources, being present in one corner of Russia, are not the result of some non-permanent reason; rather are the result of those permanent and incomplete reasons and causes which are the creation of the non-brotherly and cruel manner with which we the educated people treat the poor labourers.”
These lines make clear that Manto practically performed relief work in famine-stricken areas. And perhaps in the light of this experience he was forced to say that the poor should not remain indifferent to their lot – and nor should intellectuals.
Manto’s writing suggests he subscribed to an ideology which was only possible after a deep study of the revolution in Russia.
(to be continued)
Raza Naeem is a Pakistani social scientist, book critic and translator. His translations of Saadat Hasan Manto have been re-translated in both Bengali and Tamil, and he received the Charles Wallace Trust Fellowship in 2014-2015 for his translation and interpretive work on Manto. He is presently working on a book of translations of Manto’s progressive writings, tentatively titled ‘Comrade Manto’. He can be reached at: razanaeem@hotmail.com
Raza Naeem is a Pakistani social scientist, book critic and award-winning translator and dramatic reader based in Lahore, where he is also the president of the Progressive Writers Association. He can be reached via email: razanaeem@hotmail.com and on Twitter: @raza_naeem1979
