Patras Kay Mazameen

The essays in this book constitute a landmark in the evolution of humorous prose in Urdu. The individual essays contain various characters in comic situations such as a very dull student or a henpecked husband. In contrast to the riotous and ribald Urdu prose of the 1920s, Patras developed a style that was as communicative as it was restrained. The situation, the style, and the characters, removed from normalcy by only one degree. This has been a popular work, but over the years, several unauthentic versions have flooded the market. The OUP edition contains the authentic and original text, and this edition has in addition three very rare reviews in which Patras combined the functions of literary criticism and humour.