INTRODUCTION TO PAKISTANI LITERATURE By Dr. Najia Asrar Zaidi
May 24, 2015
INTRODUCTION TO PAKISTANI LITERATURE
By
Dr. Najia Asrar Zaidi
EAST INDIA COMPANY Arrival in India: 1600
Business Company of Merchants and Aristocrats
Letter for Jehangir: 1612
Settlement :Trade Point Surat (Given in dowry to catherine of Braganza)
BAHADUR SHAH ZAFAR Suddenly the wind has
changed, my soulIs restless constantly.How shall I tell the tale of
woe,My heart is rent with agony.Delhi was once a paradise,Such peace had abided here.But they have ravished its
name and pride,Remain now only ruins and
care Bahadur Shah Zafar (October 1775-7 November 1862)
INDIA UNDER THE WATCHFUL EYE To eliminate the separate Identity of
Muslims Replacement of Persian and Arabic with
Urdu
Bringing down of muskim peearage from 55%to 5%.
Vital blow to Muslim culture, society and economics
UNDER RAJ Muslims not recruited in Army and
Civilian employment
Loss of culture, identity and selfhood
Poverty, misery and breakdown of society
Low morale and helplessness
GHALIB AND BAHADUR SHAH
“Ruthless in victory the slightest suspicion was sufficient for a man to be hanged”
Mirza Ghalib
“Iam the light of no one’s eye The rest of no one’s heart am I That which can be of no use to
none A handful of dust am I”Bahadur Shah Zafar.
MINUTES ON EDUCATION
Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859)
o“We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect”(430).
oMISSION SUCCESSFUL
THE COLONIZED-LANGUAGE-AGENCY
Language and Ideology
Why English?
Changing Identity
NOTABLE MUSLIM INTELLECTUALS Mohammad Iqbal: (1877-1938)
Reconstruction of Religious Thought
Altaf Hussain Hali: Mussadas-e-Hali (1837-1914)Social and moral degradation of Muslims
Shibli Naumani: (1857-1914) Tried to retrieve past glory and rich heritage
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817-1898) A Reformer: Two Nation Theory
RAJ AND DEVELOPMENT OF LITERATURE
Alienation
Identity Question?
Ideology
Struggle for Independence
Nationalism
EARLY WRITERS NOVEL AND SHORT STORY
Feroze Khan Noon: “Scented Dust” 1941 Ahmed Ali: Twilight in Delhi 1941.(Short
Stories) Mrs. Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah: Short Stories
1956 Zahir H. Farooqi: Love in Ruins 1950’s Zulfiquar Ghose: Murder of Aziz Khan (1967) Attia Hossain: “Sunlight in a Broken Cloumn”
(1961) Quratulain Hyder: “River of Fire”(1958) Bapsi Sidhwa:”Crow Eaters”(1978)
PRE-PARTITION LITERATURE AND THE RAJ
Ahmed Ali
Shahid Suharwardy
Mumtaz Shahnawaz
Professor Ahmed Ali(1910 in New Delhi – 14 January 1994 in Karachi)
Mumtaz Shahnawaz
POETRY FROM 1970 ONWARDS Taufiq Rahat:1927-1998 Daud Kamal1935-1987 Zulfiqar Ghose 1935 Ahmed Ali 1940’s Sardar Asif 1947 Alamgir Hashmi (contemporary) Soofia Ishaque Shadab Hashmi Shabnam Riaz Ilona Yousaf
THEMES IN POETRY
Colonial Past Muslim Glory Cultural Synthesis Nostalgia Cultural Insight Religious Imagery Politics Mysticism
TRENDS IN FICTION
Strong middle class
Struggle to preserve identity and religion
Contest authoritarianism
Religious puritanism Political Controversy
CHANGE IN AIR
Change in Class structure
Dress and Language
Philosophy
Modernity replacing old order
THEMES IN FICTION
Social Problems
Subdued Status of Women
Nationalism
Communal riots
YOUNG VOICES Mohsin Hamid:The Reluctant Fundamentalist Nadeem Aslam:“Maps for Lost Lovers Uzam Aslam Khan:”Story of the noble Rot” Kamila Shamsie “Burnt Shadows” Mohammad Hanif: “A case of Exploding
Mangoes” H.M. Naqvi: “Home Boy”
BIOGRAPHIES AND MEMOIRS From Purdah to Parliament (1963) Shaista Ikramullah Father and Daughter (1971) Jahanara Shahnawa Daughter of the East (1988) Meatless Days (1989) Memoirs of a Rebel Princes (2004) My Feudal Lord (1989) Tehmina Durrani
ISSUES AND THEMESDeterritorialization of Literature
Family-nation and national culture
Religion and the political framework
War on terrorFear and vioence in the wake of 9/11
EDWARD SAID
Orientalism (1978) Founder of Critical theory of
PostColonialism Analyzes Cultural Representation Orient and the Occident Most powerful political voice of
Palestinian People
READING FOR THE COURSE
A History of Pakistani Literature in English
By Tariq Rahman Vanguard.1990
Post Independence Voices in South Asian Writings. By Lal, Hashmi and Ramraj.2001