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