Interrupted Stories: The Self-Narratives of Nazr Sajjad Hyder

This chapter examines the life writings of Nazr Sajjad Hyder that were serialized over a period of twenty-one years from 1942 to 1963 in Tahzib-e Niswan and Ismat. In particular, it demonstrates that instead of producing a single autobiography, the writing of Nazr’s self in public has taken place through multiple genres of self-expression including diary, memoir, and letter. The chapter argues that the diverse modes of writing were not just personal decisions of the writer but engendered by events in Nazr’s life occurring outside the test and often beyond Nazr’s control. The chapter highlights the nature of “interrupted stories” in Nazr’s writing caused by political events including Partition, personal sorrow, and the loss of youth and health. In addition to the form of writing, this chapter also sheds light on the depictions of “everyday life,” exploring the self and society fashioned in the pages of Nazr’s narrative.