Angarey was not just a mere collection of short stories but a sophisticated protest against established traditions and conventions. It was a declaration of a path-breaking testament. - Qamar Rais Angarey was banned by the government of the United Provinces a few months after it was first published in 1932. Almost all the copies printed were seized and set on fire. The release of the book had been marked by protests and the government was convinced that it would offend the sensibilities of society. Written by four young firebrands - Sajjad Zahir, Ahmed Ali, Rashid Jahan and Mahmuduzzafar Angarey comprises nine stories and a play. Heaven Assured pokes fun at a moulvis excessive piety, while Masculinity effectively uses the interior monologue to skewer patriarchy. The stories A Night of Mahavatt, the Winter Rain and The Clouds Dont Come are brilliant instances of the stream of-consciousness technique being used to evoke an epic desolation and the uselessness of religion as a prop when faced by grinding poverty. Angarey, the book which invited one of the earliest bans on free speech in India and a precursor of the Progressive Writers' Movement, was re-published in Urdu in 1995. Sensitively and brilliantly translated, this is the first time that the book is being published in the English language. Interesting Facts Angarey was one of the first books to have invited a ban on free speech in India. Given the current controversies around the question of free speech, this book will be quite relevant. This was the book which launched the Progressive Writers Movement, one of the most. Important literary movements of twentieth-century India. Angarey is one of the seminal texts of Urdu literature. It will arouse quite a bit of interest in the press as well as among Urdu scholars. Includes a comprehensive introduction by the translators which supplies the history of the book and places it in the context of modern Indian literature.