Contemporary Pakistani fiction in English : idea, nation, state

278 Pages·2013·1.835 MB·English

by  Cara Cilano

Contemporary Pakistani Fiction
in English

Looking at a wide selection of Pakistani novels in English, this book explores
how literary texts imaginatively probe the past, convey the present, and project a
future in terms that facilitate a sense of collective belonging. The novels discussed
cover a range of historical movements and developments, including pre-20th
century Islamic history, the 1947 partition, the 1971 Pakistani war, the Zia years,
and post-9/11 Pakistan, as well as pervasive themes, including ethnonationalist
tensions, the zamindari system, and conspiracy thinking.
T he book offers a range of representations of how and whether collective
belonging takes shape, and illustrates how the Pakistani novel in English, often
overshadowed by the proliferation of the Indian novel in English, complements
Pakistani multi-lingual literary imaginaries by presenting alternatives to standard
versions of history and by highlighting the issues English-language literary
production brings to the fore in a broader Pakistani context. It goes on to look at
the literary devices and themes used to portray idea, nation and state as a founda-
tion for collective belonging. The book illustrates the distinct contributions the
Pakistani novel in English makes to the larger fi elds of postcolonial and South
Asian literary and cultural studies.
Cara Cilano is Professor of English at the University of North Carolina
Wilmington, USA. She is the author of N ational Identities in Pakistan: The 1971
war in contemporary Pakistani fi ction (Routledge 2010).
Routledge contemporary South Asia series
1 Pakistan 8 Regionalism in South Asia
Social and cultural transformations Negotiating cooperation,
in a Muslim nation institutional structures
M ohammad A. Qadeer K ishore C. Dash
2 Labor, Democratization and 9 Federalism, Nationalism and
Development in India and Development
Pakistan India and the Punjab economy
C hristopher Candland P ritam Singh
3 China–India Relations 10 Human Development and
Contemporary dynamics Social Power
A mardeep Athwal Perspectives from South Asia
Ananya Mukherjee Reed
4 Madrasas in South Asia
Teaching terror? 11 The South Asian
Jamal Malik Diaspora
Transnational networks and
5 Labor, Globalization and the changing identities
State E dited by Rajesh Rai and
Workers, women and migrants Peter Reeves
confront neoliberalism
E dited by Debdas Banerjee and 12 Pakistan–Japan Relations
Michael Goldfi eld Continuity and change in
economic relations and
6 Indian Literature and Popular security interests
Cinema Ahmad Rashid Malik
Recasting classics
E dited by Heidi R.M. Pauwels 13 Himalayan Frontiers of
India
7 Islamist Militancy in Bangladesh Historical, geo-political and
A complex web strategic perspectives
A li Riaz K. Warikoo
14 India’s Open-Economy Policy 22 Maoism in India
Globalism, rivalry, continuity Reincarnation of ultra-left wing
Jalal Alamgir extremism in the twenty-fi rst
century
15 The Separatist Confl ict in Bidyut Chakrabarty and
Sri Lanka Rajat Kujur
Terrorism, ethnicity, political
economy 23 Economic and Human
A soka Bandarage Development in
Contemporary India
16 India’s Energy Security Cronyism and fragility
Edited by Ligia Noronha and Debdas Banerjee
Anant Sudarshan
24 Culture and the Environment
17 Globalization and the Middle in the Himalaya
Classes in India Arjun Guneratne
The social and cultural impact
of neoliberal reforms 25 The Rise of Ethnic Politics
Ruchira Ganguly-Scrase and in Nepal
Timothy J. Scrase Democracy in the margins
Susan I. Hangen
18 Water Policy Processes in
India 26 The Multiplex in India
Discourses of power and A cultural economy of urban
resistance leisure
Vandana Asthana Adrian Athique and
Douglas Hill
19 Minority Governments in
India 27 Tsunami Recovery in
The puzzle of elusive majorities Sri Lanka
Csaba Nikolenyi Ethnic and regional
dimensions
20 The Maoist Insurgency in Dennis B. McGilvray and
Nepal Michele R. Gamburd
Revolution in the twenty-fi rst
century 28 Development, Democracy and
Edited by Mahendra Lawoti and the State
Anup K. Pahari Critiquing the Kerala model
of development
21 Global Capital and K. Ravi Raman
Peripheral Labour
The history and political 29 Mohajir Militancy in Pakistan
economy of plantation Violence and transformation in
workers in India the Karachi confl ict
K. Ravi Raman Nichola Khan
30 Nationbuilding, Gender and 39 Microcredit and Women’s
War Crimes in South Asia Empowerment
Bina D’Costa A case study of Bangladesh
Amunui Faraizi, Jim McAllister
31 The State in India after and Taskinur Rahman
Liberalization
Interdisciplinary perspectives 40 South Asia in the New World
Edited by Akhil Gupta and Order
K. Sivaramakrishnan The role of regional
cooperation
32 National Identities in Pakistan Shahid Javed Burki
The 1971 war in contemporary
Pakistani fi ction 41 Explaining Pakistan’s
Cara Cilano Foreign Policy
Escaping India
33 Political Islam and Governance Aparna Pande
in Bangladesh
Edited by Ali Riaz and 42 Development-induced
C. Christine Fair Displacement, Rehabilitation
and Resettlement in India
34 Bengali Cinema Current issues and challenges
‘An other nation’ Edited by Sakarama Somayaji
Sharmistha Gooptu and Smrithi Talwar
35 NGOs in India 43 The Politics of Belonging in
The challenges of women’s India
empowerment and accountability Becoming Adivasi
Patrick Kilby Edited by Daniel J. Rycroft and
Sangeeta Dasgupta
36 The Labour Movement in the
Global South 44 Re-Orientalism and South
Trade unions in Sri Lanka Asian Identity Politics
S. Janaka Biyanwila The oriental Other within
Edited by Lisa Lau and
37 Building Bangalore Ana Cristina Mendes
Architecture and urban transfor-
mation in India’s Silicon Valley 45 Islamic Revival in Nepal
John C. Stallmeyer Religion and a new nation
Megan Adamson Sijapati
38 Confl ict and Peacebuilding in
Sri Lanka 46 Education and Inequality
Caught in the peace trap? in India
Edited by Jonathan Goodhand, A classroom view
Jonathan Spencer and Manabi Majumdar and
Benedict Korf Jos Mooij
47 The Culturalization of Caste 56 Nation, Territory, and
in India Globalization in Pakistan
Identity and inequality in a Traversing the margins
multicultural age Chad Haines
Balmurli Natrajan
57 The Politics of Ethnicity in
48 Corporate Social Pakistan
Responsibility in India The Baloch, Sindhi and Mohajir
Bidyut Chakrabarty ethnic movements
Farhan Hanif Siddiqi
49 Pakistan’s Stability Paradox
Domestic, regional and 58 Nationalism and Ethnic
international dimensions Confl ict
Edited by Ashutosh Misra and Identities and mobilization
Michael E. Clarke after 1990
Edited by Mahendra Lawoti and
50 Transforming Urban Water Susan Hangen
Supplies in India
The role of reform and 59 Islam and Higher Education
partnerships in globalization Concepts, challenges and
Govind Gopakumar opportunities
Marodsilton Muborakshoeva
51 South Asian Security
Twenty-fi rst century discourse 60 Religious Freedom in India
Sagarika Dutt and Alok Bansal Sovereignty and (anti)
conversion
52 Non-discrimination and Goldie Osuri
Equality in India
Contesting boundaries of 61 Everyday Ethnicity in
social justice Sri Lanka
Vidhu Verma Up-country Tamil identity
politics
53 Being Middle-class in India Daniel Bass
A way of life
Henrike Donner 62 Ritual and Recovery in
Post-Confl ict Sri Lanka
54 Kashmir’s Right to Secede Eloquent bodies
A critical examination of Jane Derges
contemporary theories of secession
Matthew J. Webb 63 Bollywood and
Globalisation
55 Bollywood Travels The global power of popular
Culture, diaspora and border Hindi cinema
crossings in popular Hindi cinema Edited by David J. Schaefer and
Rajinder Dudrah Kavita Karan
64 Regional Economic Integration 67 Contemporary Pakistani
in South Asia Fiction in English
Trapped in confl ict? Idea, nation, state
Amita Batra Cara N. Cilano
65 Architecture and Nationalism 68 Transitional Justice in
in Sri Lanka South Asia
The trouser under the cloth A study of Afghanistan and Nepal
Anoma Pieris Tazreena Sajjad
66 Civil Society and
Democratization in India
Institutions, ideologies and
interests
Sarbeswar Sahoo
Contemporary Pakistani
Fiction in English
Idea, nation, state
Cara N. Cilano
First published 2013
by Routledge
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© 2013 Cara N. Cilano
The right of Cara N. Cilano to be identifi ed as author of this work has been asserted
by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988.
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Cilano, Cara.
Contemporary Pakistani fi ction in English: idea, nation, state / Cara N. Cilano.
p. cm. – (Routledge contemporary South Asia series; 67)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Pakistani fi ction (English)–History and criticism. 2. Group identity–Pakistan.
I. Title.
PR9540.4C55 2013
823’.920995491–dc23 2012039543
ISBN: 978-0-415-68276-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-55224-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
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