Sultana's Dream

And Selections from The Secluded Ones

Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, Roushan Jahan

• Publisher: The Feminist Press at CUNY
• Year: 2013
• Topic: Social Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9781558617353
• Subtopic: Gender Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

Sultana’s Dream, first published in 1905 in a Madras English newspaper, is a witty feminist utopia—a tale of reverse purdah that posits a world in which men are confined indoors and women have taken over the public sphere, ending a war nonviolently and restoring health and beauty to the world."The Secluded Ones" is a selection of short sketches, first published in Bengali newspapers, illuminating the cruel and comic realities of life in purdah.

Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain. Reproduced by permission of Roushan Jahan.

Sultana’s Dream

A Feminist Utopia

and Selections from
THE SECLUDED ONES

Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain

Edited and Translated by Roushan Jahan
Afterword by Hanna Papanek

Dedicated to the inheritors of Rokeya’s dream

“Sultana’s Dream”: Purdha Reversed, “The Secluded Ones”: Purdah Observed, and Rokeya: An Introduction to Her Life © 1988 by Roushan Jahan. Translation of selections from The Secluded Ones © 1981, 1988 by Roushan Jahan. Caging the Lion: A Fable for Our Time © 1988 by Hanna Papanek. “Sultana’s Dream” and selections from The Secluded Ones are reprinted and translated, respectively, from Rokeya Racanavali, with the kind permission of the Bangla Academy, Dhaka, Bangladesh. All rights reserved.

Published by the Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016

First edition, 1988

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Rokeya, Begum.

Sultana’s dream and selections from The secluded ones.

Bibliography: p.

“Publications of Rokeya Sakhawat Houssain” : p.

1. Women—Bangladesh—Literary collections.

2. Purdah—Literary collections. 3. Rokeya, Begum.

4. Authors, Bengali—20th century—Biography.

5. Feminists—Bangladesh—Biography. I. Jahan,

Roushan. II. Papanek, Hanna. III. Rokeya, Begum.

Abarodha-b-sin. English. Selections. 1988. IV. Title.

PR420.9.R65S86 1988 823 88-11033

eISBN 978-155861-735-3

This publication is made possible, in part, by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts. The Feminist Press is also grateful to Helene D. Goldfarb for her generosity.

CONTENTS

1.   Cover Page

2.   Author Photo

3.   Title Page

4.   Copyright Page

5.   Table of Contents

6.   Preface

7.   Chronology

8.   “Sultana’s Dream”: Purdah Reversed

9.   Sultana’s Dream

10. The Secluded Ones: Purdah Observed

11. Selections from The Secluded Ones

12. Rokeya: An Introduction To Her Life

13. Afterward, Caging The Lion: A Fable for Our Time

14. Glossary

15. About the Author

16. About the Feminist Press

17. Also Available From the Feminist Press

Preface

IN THIS BOOK, we look at purdah—the seclusion and segregation of women—through three pairs of eyes: those of an early twentieth-century Muslim writer who saw purdah from the inside and campaigned against it most of her life; those of a modern Bangladeshi literary scholar and feminist activist; and tho...

Table of contents

• 1. Cover Page
• 2. Author Photo
• 3. Title Page
• Dedication
• 5. Table of Contents
• 6. Preface
• 7. Chronology
• 8. “Sultana’s Dream”: Purdah Reversed
• 9. Sultana’s Dream
• 10. The Secluded Ones: Purdah Observed
• 11. Selections from The Secluded Ones
• 12. Rokeya: An Introduction to Her Life
• 13. Afterword Caging the Lion: A Fable for Our Time
• 14. Glossary
• 15. About the Author
• 16. About the Feminist Press
• 17. Also Available From the Feminist Press