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 ATTIA HOSSAIN’S 

SUNLIGHT ON A BROKEN

COLUMN

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 About the Author

 born into a feudal family in Lucknow,

north India in 1913

She became the first women from

a Taluqdar  family to graduate from theUniversity of Lucknow in 1933 

One of the first Muslim writers to write

about partition from the perspective ofa Muslim household.

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Major works

• Phoenix Fled , Chatto & Windus, 1953

• Sunlight on a Broken Column, Chatto

& Windus,

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Novel – a short summary

 A novel in the genre of ‘bildungroman’ 

divided into four parts traces the

 journey of Laila, from adoloscence to

adulthood against the backdrop ofpartition.(1930-1950).

Laila,an orphan is thrust into the

hands of patriachial family where dutyand convention is EVERYTHING.

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Her education creates in her aninquisitive outlook which questions thedouble standards of morality and dutypracticed in her society.

 also portrays the feudal outlook and theclass differences between variousmembers of the society.

 As the nation breaks away from a foreignrule, the protagonist too struggles tobreak away from her claustrophobicfamily.

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Themes explored in the novel

Patriarchal family system with its notionson conventions and conduct.

Restrictions and freedom imposed onwomen

Class difference

Inter and intra religious tensions

Partition politics where personal spills

over to political and vice versa Nationalism

Quest for identity

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