House of Fear- Ibn-e- Safi

 House of Fear- Ibn-e- Safi

I don't know Urdu but have knowledge of detective fiction in the sub-continent. There is only one original writer - Ibn-e Safi

                        - Agatha Christie

Translated bilal Tanweer

 ✓NUZAIRA BIBI and her husband Safiullah didn't know that the son born to them in 1928 would grow up to be a master story teller ,

✓Born- In the little village of Nara in the Allahabad district.

✓His delighted parents named him Asrar, which meant ‘secrets’ or ‘mysteries’ in Arabic

✓In 1948, he started writing satires for the monthly Nakhat Allahabad under the pseudonym Tughral Farghan

✓Asrar’s emphasis on originality and 'newness’ led him to begin writing mystery novels.

✓pseudonym Ibn-e Safi—literally the ‘son of Safi, (his father’s name was Safi)

✓began the series Jasoosi Duniya in 1952, from Nakhat Publications.

✓Later he moved to Pakistan, and in 1953 he began writing another set of novels called the Imran Series

✓Ibn-e Safi wrote about two hundred and forty-five novels in both series and caused the birth of what came to be called Anna Libraries in India and Pakistan

✓His novels were utterly addictive, and considered ‘polite’ enough for the entire family to read


IMRAN SERIES

Imran Series revolves around Ali Imran, an engaging protagonist indeed. He had MSc and PhD in criminology. One would never guess that he is the Chief of the Secret Service, with the code name X2. Imran is a past master at foiling conspiracies and unearthing sinister plots.

JASOOSI DUNIYA 

Jasoosi Duniya, on the other hand, revolves around Colonel Ahmad amal Faridi and his sidekick Captain Sajid Hameed. Faridi is well built, tall and attractive, and his physical strength is central to most of has adventures. Faridi works for the police department merely for the thrill of it—he is otherwise heir to a huge estate, and does not need to work for a living. Despite many chances to move up in his career,Faridi declines all promotions and stays in the active service in order to avoid being assigned an administrative job. Hameed calls Faridi, ‘Father Hardstone’ because he never openly displays his emotions, and appears to be immune to the advances of the fairer sex. 

✓His novels investigated thought-provoking social and psychological issues in a manner that would make them accessible to the general public. The tenor of the books invites readers to respect the law, and be peace-loving and patriotic.Ibn-e Safi was regularly chastised by the literary elite for being a 'popular’ writer, and was never granted the recognition he deserved.  

✓ In early 1961 he suffered an attack of schizophrenia ( serious mental illness) 

✓He made a miraculous recovery in 1963, and returned with another novel in the Imran Series—Daerh Matwalay. The novels first edition was launched by PM Lal Bahadur Shastri. 

✓He was such a kind person that he didn't even filed complaint against those who copied his work in his absence and even the publisher who illegally published his work. 

✓In late 1979, doctors diagnosed him with pancreatic cancer kept writing till the last day of his life. When he passed away on 26 July 1980, the manuscript of his last novel Aakhri Aadmi (The Last Man) lay by his bedside.

    

        

#History 

-The Dastaan tale which were earlier in Persian were translated into Urdu which was common man language it was published in Urdu with title - Tilism-e- Hoshruba. 

-Fashnaa -e- Azad written in Urdu was similarly written as Dickenson's chapter publication in english newspapers 

- In 1880s the Chandarkanta - magic stories came up in Hindi . Which features figures like Amar who change their forms. 

- In 1946-48 Ibn-e-Safi wrote short stories in a magazine named Jasusi Duniya. In 1930s in Punjabi the figure of Suraghrasan this resembles with Agatha Christie's Clue puzzle idea. Haratangez - elements of horror, gothic are present in these mysteries. 

- Safi never worked as police or detective but was called by intelligence bureau to guide their recruits. 

•Story Analysis 

-The protagonist; Imran - he is type of person who catch hold of people very easily, he is not a detective by profession but a hard-boiled private detective. Ali Imran will later turns into a secret agent. In Dastaan - Amar Ayyer, a Persian figure( trickster) so the figure of adventurous man is common in Indianisation of Detective fiction. Urdu comes from word Rekhtaa (mixed).  

- Imran relation with his father were not good (South Asian family trope ,the young man not liked by father but no disrespectful towards the parents, no sex, vulgarity, smoking, kinda family friendly environment) . His style is action oriented and influenced by Films of the time

- All the women in the novel are elite class ( the women of honour)

- There is no graphic sexual scenes throughout Ibn-e-Safi's novels. The hidden idea of anxiety within the family structure of South Asia is presented through the scene when the mother beat Imran with chappal.

- When he went to Lady Jehangir house he punches the mirror ( maybe the frustration out of pretending before everyone)

-whenever he quotes someone there is a link to clue puzzle, links between the quote and his ideas is crucial which is somehow lost in English translation (world play)



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