This event is in collaboration with the Department of Asian Studies.
Abstract
While depicting the tragic events of partition through his brilliant fiction writing, Manto stretched the
limits of socially approved norms of storytelling. His unconventional lifestyle too was the mirror image of
his writings as if he was a character of one of his own stories. The ultimate shock came when he decided
to leave India to settle down in Pakistan, a land unknown to him. The move that was surprising for everyone was in fact rather typical of him; stretching the limits – crossing the borders.
Presenter
Krešimir Krnic is a senior lecturer in Sanskrit, Hindi and Urdu languages and literatures at the
Department of Indology and Far-Eastern Studies, University of Zagreb. He has researched on Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa analysing elements of oral poetry and classical literature. Apart from the classical Indology,
he has also worked on contemporary Hindi-Urdu literature and translated some prominent Hindi-Urdu
authors into Croatian. For past decade, Krnic has been actively exploring the life and works of Manto
and introducing him to Croatian literary circles. He published Croatian translation of Manto’s stories,
first ever collection of translation from any Urdu author into Croatian language. The collection was
highly acclaimed and very well received by general public. In his effort to introduce Manto to Croatia,
Krnic has created a lecture-cum-performance on Manto and his writings. He has been invited by various
libraries and universities in Croatia to present the lecture-cum-performance as a part of promotional tour for the translation of Manto’s writings.
