Lucid, lyrical and frequently humorous, this exciting new collection of Hussein s stories ranges from the experimental approach of The Man from Beni Mora and The Tree at the Limit or more mellow explorations of legends of love and loss in The Swan s Wife , to the rambling conversations of two Karachi veterans lunching by the sea while their city rains down on them in Two Old Friends . Four of the stories, including the diptych Knotted Tongue , were written originally in Urdu and then translated into English in order to explore new voices and visions. The Entrepreneurs , also from the Urdu, is an amusing, thoroughly contemporary portrayal of the strategies of immigrants who cope with establishing a new life in a quite different society. Though the collection alludes to modern art and soap opera, traditional tales and contemporary realities, Hussein never loses the poetic texture of his writing or his ability to celebrate two cultures, those of Pakistan and of England, the attributes which continue to make him one of our leading exponents of the art of the short story.
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