PENGUIN MODERN CLASSICS
AGYEYA (1911–87) was the pen name of S.H. Vatsyayan, regarded as one of the foremost figures of Hindi literature who was instrumental in pioneering modern trends in the realm of poetry, fiction, criticism and journalism. As a young man, he joined the movement for India’s independence alongside Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad, and was even arrested by the British authorities. His monumental novel Shekhar: Ek Jeevani, widely regarded as his masterpiece, was drawn from his own experiences in prison and has now been published in Penguin Classics as Shekhar: A Life. Prison Days and Other Poems, a collection of his verses, has also been published in Penguin Classics. He has also been awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Jnanpith Award for his poetry.
SNEHAL SHINGAVI is associate professor of English at the University of Texas, Austin, where he specializes in teaching South Asian literatures in English, Hindi and Urdu. He is the author of The Mahatma Misunderstood, and has translated to wide acclaim the iconic short-story collection Angaaray as well as Bhisham Sahni’s memoir, Today’s Pasts. He is currently translating Joginder Paul’s novel Ek Boond Lahu Ki (One Drop of Blood).
VASUDHA DALMIA is professor emerita of Hindi and Modern South Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Her monograph, The Nationalization of Hindu Traditions: Bharatendu Harischandra and Nineteenth Century Banaras (1997), studies the life and writings of a major Hindi writer of the nineteenth century as the focal point for an examination of the intricate links between politics, language, culture, religion and nationality. She has edited and co-edited several works. Her book on the Hindi novel, Fiction as History: The Novel and the City in Modern North India, appeared in 2017.