H.M. Naqvi, The Selected Works of Abdullah the Cossack

Nadya Chishty Mujahid (Institute of Business Administration Karachi)

Ed. by Muneeza Shamsie, Independent Scholar - Asia
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 10.3.2: Pakistani and Bangladeshi Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Claire Gallien (Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3), Sarker Hasan Al Zayed (Independent University Bangladesh), Pavan Kumar Malreddy (J W Goethe University of Frankfurt), Delphine Munos (Université de Liège), Muneeza Shamsie (Independent Scholar - Asia), Niaz Zaman (Independent University Bangladesh)

Dates

First circulation or publication 2019

Places

Pakistan (Country of Origin)
United Kingdom (Publication/ performance)
United States (Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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H. M. Naqvi gained some notoriety when, in 2011, he was awarded the inaugural DSC Prize for South Asian Literature for his debut novel,

Home Boy

(2009), about young Pakistani men in New York City. After receiving this award, he went on to write

The Selected Works of Abdullah the Cossack

, a much more mature but no less fascinating book, published ten years after

Home Boy

in 2019.

The Selected Works of Abdullah the Cossack

is written in first-person, and the narrator -- also the titular character, and larger-than-life protagonist, a Karachi-based septuagenarian named Abdullah -- hails from the historic and centrally located area of Garden East, where he has spent virtually his entire life. Abdullah is named after a famous shrine in the Clifton district of Karachi, dedicated to the Muslim…

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2384 words

Citation: Chishty Mujahid, Nadya. "The Selected Works of Abdullah the Cossack". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 April 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=39129, accessed 02 June 2024.]

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