{"product_id":"fabulous-machinery-for-the-curious-9780520388239","title":"Fabulous Machinery for the Curious","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn absorbing, joyous, and colorful collection of stories from the qissa genre.    Fabulous Machinery for the Curious presents the first English translation of some of the finest texts from the qissa genre. In this book, acclaimed translator Musharraf Ali Farooqi gathers the greatest of these tales, written or transcribed in the Urdu language by master storytellers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.     Spreading from Persia to Arabia to South Asia over 1,500 years, the qissa appropriated verse and prose narratives to become the preeminent storytelling genre. The combined traditions of the many cultures of Indo-Islamic civilization resulted in a flowering of qissas in Urdu. This collection distills a vast body of oral and written literature, from resplendent sagas of romantic love and thrilling adventures in fairyland to picaresque stories of deception and haunting tales of nobility and viciousness. Fabulous Machinery for the Curious brings these forgotten gems to a new generat\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eContents\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgements\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Introduction\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Qissa 1: The Ingenious Farkhanda and the Two Conditions\u003cbr\u003e Translation of Char Gulshan by Rai Beni Narayan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Qissa 2: The Adventures of a Soldier \u003cbr\u003e Translation of Qissa Sipahizada by Khushdil Kiratpuri\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Qissa 3: Chhabili the Innkeeper \u003cbr\u003e Translation of Qissa Chhabili Bhattiyari by unknown author\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Qissa 4: Azar Shah and Saman Rukh Bano \u003cbr\u003e Translation of Nau Aaeen-e Hindi by Mehr Chand Khatri Mehr\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Qissa 5: The Victim of Malice \u003cbr\u003e Translation of Qissa-e Maqtool-e Jafa by Amiruddin Khan Maani\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Qissa 6: A Girl Named King Agar \u003cbr\u003e Translation of Qissa Agar o Gul by Saadat Khan Nasir\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e About the Authors and Narrators \u003cbr\u003e About the Translator ","brand":"University of California Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49402963329367,"sku":"9780520388239","price":18.9,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780520388239.jpg?v=1730481972","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/fabulous-machinery-for-the-curious-9780520388239","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}