The Method to Manto’s Madness
Words by Lavanya Magon
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The Method to Manto’s Madness
Obscene. Smutty. Lewd. These were just some of the adjectives that were used to describe the work of famous Urdu raconteur Saadat Hassan Manto. The Indo-Pakistani writer, who mostly wrote stories which were resplendent with sex and prurience, held a contentious position in the subcontinent of the conservative 1940s and 50s, where his work acquired both opprobrium and admiration in equal measure. A controversial figure, Manto was arraigned on charges of writing obscene and immodest literature several times in his career, thrice in British-governed India and the other three in the post-partitioned Islamic republic of Pakistan. Defending himself, Manto said that he wasn’t a pornographer or an eroticist, intentionally writing scandalous bawdry to provoke the people, but a mere non-conformist who was trying to truthfully portray the realities of the society he was living in. Famously saying that if people think his stories are unacceptable, it would be appropriate to deem the society itself as unacceptable.