A comparative approach to Pakistani fiction in English

Abstract

This survey paper adumbrates an opening up of Pakistani fiction in order to draw comparisons with other writing by novelists of Muslim heritage. While Pakistani writers tend to be analysed as part of broader South Asian trends, Pakistan also faces west and has concerns in the Middle East, Central Asia, Europe and beyond that derive from its Muslim identity. Without overstating the idea of a universalizing umma (which can lead to neglect of the differences and tensions between different Muslim groups), the approach has the advantage of bringing together writers from Muslim countries to shed light on each other. South Asians, Arabs, and Africans are discussed together, because of their shared religious heritage, but never overlooking their vast contextual variations. Insights and themes unique to the research include the fact that writers often tap into a canon of largely Muslim literature and art from the Middle East, South Asia and elsewhere, which responds to key moments in the construction of Muslim identity, so intertextuality is a significant concern.

Keywords:

• Pakistani literature
• diaspora
• Muslim
• intertextuality
• Yusuf
• war on terror

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank James Dodge for all his insights, and Muneeza Shamsie for her encyclopaedic guidance and editorial skills. Any errors are, of course, my own.

Notes

1. Unless stated otherwise, all writers (including Aamer Hussein) have Pakistani heritage.

2. See, for example, K. Shamsie, “Another”; Dalrymple; Chaudhuri.

3. M. Shamsie, Dragonfly and World; Rahman; Hashmi; Cilano, “Extreme” and National.

4. For examples of stereotypical literary representations of Muslims, see Amis; McEwan; Updike; Faulks. On media representations, see Said; Poole; and Ahmed.

5. For further analysis of literary representations of 1971 and its fallout, see Cilano’s recent monograph, in which she scrutinizes the critical juncture for Pakistani self‐identity of the 1971 war, as refracted through both Urdu‐ and English‐language literature.

6. Authorship of the four sections of “How to Write about Pakistan” was never attributed but I have received independent confirmation that it is by Kamila Shamsie.

7. Probably because phonetic representations of Arabic words vary according to the writer’s mother tongue, subcontinental writers tend to spell the name “Zuleikha”, whereas Gurnah consistently writes “Zulekha”. Similarly, there are disparities in spellings of the name Leila/Laila/Layla in the Leila and Majnun myth.