History’s Angel by Anjum Hasan

London. Bloomsbury. 2023. 288 pages.

Indian novelist Anjum Hasan dexterously weaves together the history of communal fault lines in History’s Angel, her evocative new novel. The title, chosen with discernment, is an intriguing metonymy suggestive of the tale that pivots around Alif, who is an angel, and history as a subject venerated by him. Although Hasan draws on the history of communal rupture breached by the partition of India, she reflects with equal clarity on the smoldering anxieties and despair of contemporary Indian Muslims in History’s Angel.

Alif, a “middle-class nobody,” teaches history in a school in India’s capital, Delhi, a city of great historical relevance. Hasan has created Alif’s character with a great finesse, offering a poised critique of recent political changes that have sown communal hatred. Alif, too, falls prey to such rippling effects of hatred when punished for twisting the ear of his student, Ankit, for his affronting remarks on his Muslim identity: “Are you a dirty Musalla (Muslim)?” The school administration with the newly joined principal decide to sack Alif from his job for not following the faculty rules.

History’s Angel subtly resonates with the ongoing debate surrounding the politicization of history in India. What makes it more interesting is how Anjum has explored it through the psyche of a school-aged character: Ankit rebuts his teacher when he says, “My father said Musalmans (Muslims) lie. They go on haj every year but . . . they never open the doors (of Ka’bah) because inside is actually a Hanuman temple.” Ankit cannot trust Alif’s teaching because he is a Muslim, neither can he trust the history he is being taught. This underscores how such stifling conservatism can warp the historical facts and help widen communal divides.

Anjum Hasan proves herself to be a deft storyteller as she deals with complicated issues of religious identity and communalism. Although the novel broods over unsettling questions about the contemporary social divide, there are moments that take you to the past and untangle interesting historical threads. History’s Angel oscillates between the past and the present to offer a unique perspective on how they meet in the lives of each character.

Mohammad Farhan
Jamia Millia Islamia