Rauf Niazi - short story writer of yester -years - now literary critic has come out with his second book "Kuchh Suratger Afsanoo Kay." The first one was "Maba'ad Jadeediat" which was published in 2003. The book under review is divided into four sections.
The first one consists of analytical essays on male and female short story writers, second contains three analytical essays on novels by Shahzad Manzer, Ikram Barailvi and Maqsood Ilahi Shaikh. The third section has two essays under the title of "Kahanyyan." Among these, the first one deals with the book of Raees Fatima "Mausim Odasyoon Kay" (The seasons of sadness) which contains two long stories. The second article discusses the satiric writings of Dr Muhammed Mohsin. It is not understandable as to why Rauf Niazi has put him in the section of "Kahanyyan" (Tales)?
In the first section, there are some prominent and stylish short story writers. Such as Naeem Aarvi, Ghulam Muhammed, Agha Gul, Musharraf Ahmed, Shamshad Ahmed, Ahmed Sagheer Siddiqi, Mubeen Mirza, Shahnaz Perveen, Tahir Naqvi and Azra Asgher. Some are those who are gaining fame such as Dr Zahid Hussain, Shahnaz Shoro, Musarrat Efza Roohi and the rests are known in a limited literary circle.
His first book had mixed texture of theoretical and practical essays. But the book "Surat Ger Kuchh Afsanoo Kay" contains critical articles on authors and their works. Among them, some write-ups are prefaces written for friends' books. Some deal with the entire works of short story writers such as article on Naeem Aarvi Shamshad Ahmed.
The author has tried his best to analyse the short stories of Naeem Aarvi, an important fiction writer having more than five collections of short stories to his credit. To the last day of his life, he remained progressive. Rauf Niazi has dealt with Naeem's writings in depth. The other important essay is written on Agha Gul's "Gorech." It is a collection of short stories by Agha Gul. Niazi has tried to evaluate and assess the short stories comprehensively.
The third important write-up is on the art and fiction writing of Ghulam Muhammed. Rauf Niazi in this essay has tried to discover new angles during the assessment of Ghulam Muhammed's short stories. Shahnaz Perveen's writing, keeping in view of her contemporary sensitivity, social consciousness and creative awareness has also been well assessed. Niazi's articles on novel, novelette and novelists appear to be outcome of serious studies.