Anshu Malhotra is Associate Professor of History at the University of Delhi and the author of Gender, Caste, and Religious Identities: Restructuring Class in Colonial Punjab.Siobhan Lambert-Hurley is Reader in International History at the University of Sheffield and author of Muslim Women, Reform and Princely Patronage: Nawab Sultan Jahan Begam of Bhopal.

"The authors . . . present a significant corpus of scholarship relating to autobiography and gender which can apply broadly not only in South Asia but beyond. By carefully exploring important theoretical aspects and alternative examples of autobiography, the authors open new grounds and sources to critique autobiographical writing and methods." - Niroshini Somasundaram (IIAS Newsletter) "Speaking of the Self is a significant contribution to understanding the complexities of representing the self by women . . . in South Asian cultures across regions and ages. It sensitizes the reader to the importance of the social, cultural, political, regional, and historical milieu in which the autobiographical narratives are played out." - Monika Browarczyk (Biography) “These ten essays, along with a helpful introduction, come together to form an interesting and excellent collection. . . . All of these essays should be of interest to scholars and graduate students working on gender and women’s history in South Asia. Many would be useable within an undergraduate class on a wide range of related subjects." - Judith Walsh (Journal of Asian Studies)

• Acknowledgments  ixIntroduction. Gender, Performance, and Autobiography in South Asia / Anshu Malhotra and Siobhan Lambert-Hurley  1Part I. Negotiating Autobiography: Between Assertion and Subversion1. A Passion for Reading: The Role of Early Twentieth-Century Urdu Novels in the Construction of an Individual Female Identity in 1930s Hyderabad / Sylvia Vatuk  332. Pentimento: The Self beneath the Surface / Ritu Menon  563. Interrupted Stories: The Self-Narratives of Nazr Sajjad Hyder / Asiya Alam  724. Kailashabashini Debi's Janaika Grihabadhur Diary: A Women "Constructing" Her "Self" in Nineteenth-Century Bengal? / Shudhra Ray  95Part II. Forms and Modes of Self-Fashioning5. Betrayal, Anger, and Loss: Women Write the Partition in Pakistan / Uma Chakravarti  1216. Tawa'if as Poet and Patron: Rethinking Women's Self-Representation / Shweta Sachdeva Jha  1417. Masculine Modes of Female Subjectivity: The Case of Jahanara Begam / Afshan Bokhari  165Part III. Destabilizing the Normative: The Heterogeneous Self8. Performing a Persona: Reading Piro's Kafis / Anshu Malhotra  2059. The Heart of a Gopi: Raihana Tyabji's Bhakti Devotionalism as Self-Representation / Siobhan Lambert-Hurley  23010. Performing Gender and Faith in Indian Theater Autobiographies / Kathryn Hansen  255Select Bibliography  281Contributors  301Index  305

Anshu Malhotra is Associate Professor of History at the University of Delhi and the author of Gender, Caste, and Religious Identities: Restructuring Class in Colonial Punjab.Siobhan Lambert-Hurley is Reader in International History at the University of Sheffield and author of Muslim Women, Reform and Princely Patronage: Nawab Sultan Jahan Begam of Bhopal.

"The authors . . . present a significant corpus of scholarship relating to autobiography and gender which can apply broadly not only in South Asia but beyond. By carefully exploring important theoretical aspects and alternative examples of autobiography, the authors open new grounds and sources to critique autobiographical writing and methods." - Niroshini Somasundaram (IIAS Newsletter) "Speaking of the Self is a significant contribution to understanding the complexities of representing the self by women . . . in South Asian cultures across regions and ages. It sensitizes the reader to the importance of the social, cultural, political, regional, and historical milieu in which the autobiographical narratives are played out." - Monika Browarczyk (Biography) “These ten essays, along with a helpful introduction, come together to form an interesting and excellent collection. . . . All of these essays should be of interest to scholars and graduate students working on gender and women’s history in South Asia. Many would be useable within an undergraduate class on a wide range of related subjects." - Judith Walsh (Journal of Asian Studies)

• Acknowledgments  ixIntroduction. Gender, Performance, and Autobiography in South Asia / Anshu Malhotra and Siobhan Lambert-Hurley  1Part I. Negotiating Autobiography: Between Assertion and Subversion1. A Passion for Reading: The Role of Early Twentieth-Century Urdu Novels in the Construction of an Individual Female Identity in 1930s Hyderabad / Sylvia Vatuk  332. Pentimento: The Self beneath the Surface / Ritu Menon  563. Interrupted Stories: The Self-Narratives of Nazr Sajjad Hyder / Asiya Alam  724. Kailashabashini Debi's Janaika Grihabadhur Diary: A Women "Constructing" Her "Self" in Nineteenth-Century Bengal? / Shudhra Ray  95Part II. Forms and Modes of Self-Fashioning5. Betrayal, Anger, and Loss: Women Write the Partition in Pakistan / Uma Chakravarti  1216. Tawa'if as Poet and Patron: Rethinking Women's Self-Representation / Shweta Sachdeva Jha  1417. Masculine Modes of Female Subjectivity: The Case of Jahanara Begam / Afshan Bokhari  165Part III. Destabilizing the Normative: The Heterogeneous Self8. Performing a Persona: Reading Piro's Kafis / Anshu Malhotra  2059. The Heart of a Gopi: Raihana Tyabji's Bhakti Devotionalism as Self-Representation / Siobhan Lambert-Hurley  23010. Performing Gender and Faith in Indian Theater Autobiographies / Kathryn Hansen  255Select Bibliography  281Contributors  301Index  305

Anshu Malhotra is Associate Professor of History at the University of Delhi and the author of Gender, Caste, and Religious Identities: Restructuring Class in Colonial Punjab.Siobhan Lambert-Hurley is Reader in International History at the University of Sheffield and author of Muslim Women, Reform and Princely Patronage: Nawab Sultan Jahan Begam of Bhopal.

"The authors . . . present a significant corpus of scholarship relating to autobiography and gender which can apply broadly not only in South Asia but beyond. By carefully exploring important theoretical aspects and alternative examples of autobiography, the authors open new grounds and sources to critique autobiographical writing and methods." - Niroshini Somasundaram (IIAS Newsletter) "Speaking of the Self is a significant contribution to understanding the complexities of representing the self by women . . . in South Asian cultures across regions and ages. It sensitizes the reader to the importance of the social, cultural, political, regional, and historical milieu in which the autobiographical narratives are played out." - Monika Browarczyk (Biography) “These ten essays, along with a helpful introduction, come together to form an interesting and excellent collection. . . . All of these essays should be of interest to scholars and graduate students working on gender and women’s history in South Asia. Many would be useable within an undergraduate class on a wide range of related subjects." - Judith Walsh (Journal of Asian Studies)

• Acknowledgments  ixIntroduction. Gender, Performance, and Autobiography in South Asia / Anshu Malhotra and Siobhan Lambert-Hurley  1Part I. Negotiating Autobiography: Between Assertion and Subversion1. A Passion for Reading: The Role of Early Twentieth-Century Urdu Novels in the Construction of an Individual Female Identity in 1930s Hyderabad / Sylvia Vatuk  332. Pentimento: The Self beneath the Surface / Ritu Menon  563. Interrupted Stories: The Self-Narratives of Nazr Sajjad Hyder / Asiya Alam  724. Kailashabashini Debi's Janaika Grihabadhur Diary: A Women "Constructing" Her "Self" in Nineteenth-Century Bengal? / Shudhra Ray  95Part II. Forms and Modes of Self-Fashioning5. Betrayal, Anger, and Loss: Women Write the Partition in Pakistan / Uma Chakravarti  1216. Tawa'if as Poet and Patron: Rethinking Women's Self-Representation / Shweta Sachdeva Jha  1417. Masculine Modes of Female Subjectivity: The Case of Jahanara Begam / Afshan Bokhari  165Part III. Destabilizing the Normative: The Heterogeneous Self8. Performing a Persona: Reading Piro's Kafis / Anshu Malhotra  2059. The Heart of a Gopi: Raihana Tyabji's Bhakti Devotionalism as Self-Representation / Siobhan Lambert-Hurley  23010. Performing Gender and Faith in Indian Theater Autobiographies / Kathryn Hansen  255Select Bibliography  281Contributors  301Index  305