Saadat Hasan Manto’s Poetics of Resistance

I begin with the basic question of how to read Saadat Hasan Manto today, sixty five years after the Partition and at a time when traditional ways of reading litera-ture are being seriously questioned. It is true that more than any other writer of his time, Manto’s stories do not appear dated, and he, like Premchand, still commands readers, which is the envy of many current writers. But the basic question of how to read Manto is a good question even today because a lot has been said in recent times about how to read an author, the limitations of reading and, above all, the politics of reading – often seen together with the politics of writing and of the writer. In the case of Manto, the verdict is often the result of a selective reading of his few stories.