Speaking of the Self: Gender, Performance, and Autobiography in South Asia
Anshu Malhotra is Associate Professor of History at the University of Delhi and the author of
Siobhan Lambert-Hurley is Reader in International History at the University of Sheffield and author of
Anshu Malhotra is Associate Professor of History at the University of Delhi and the author of
Siobhan Lambert-Hurley is Reader in International History at the University of Sheffield and author of
Negotiating Autobiography: Between Assertion and Subversion
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Published:October 2015
This chapter contributes to scholarly discussions of the role of popular fiction in the development of a female selfhood. It explores how reading Urdu-language fiction contributed to the development of a young Muslim girl’s sense of self, as she was growing up in the 1920s in a scholarly, religious family of illustrious ancestry but relatively modest means. In an unpublished memoir the author tells of her childhood passion for reading popular Urdu novels. She identified with female characters who retained the traditional feminine virtues while also acquiring modern educations and pursuing professional careers. These novels helped her to construct a...
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