English Fiction in Pakistan. Focus on Qaisra Shahraz

Document from the year 2015 in the subject Literature - General, , course: English Literature, language: English, abstract: Pakistani Literature in English like other worldly literatures is gaining worldly fame and in this respect Pakistani writers particularly in English from time to time have shown their enthusiasm and loyal spirit to highlight the socio-economic, political, cultural problems of Pakistan in which it has lingered so far. Pakistan, being a Multi-ethnic country, has a diverse geography and culture and the people their belief in the feudal system, hierarchical power distribution, which historically is the product of the imperialistic country. This class has always shown resistance towards the changes in the society. Pakistan has given a privileged position to the army, bureaucrats and the feudal lords. There has been conflict between the conservative and liberal set of people within the society of Pakistan as reflected by the conflicts and opposite thinking, taught in madrasa and westernized elite schools respectively. These two institutions carry two different and diametrically opposed worldview. Madrasas teaches its students the traditional, conventional sets of ideologies and Islamic ways of life, whereas the modern school teaches the ways of life based on modern setups. The laws of tradition and modernity vary from place to place and even the Pakistani tradition in Pakistani aristocratic families has become a myth. So this book English Fiction in Pakistan with a focus of Qaisra Shahraz will try to make an effort to highlight the different modes of tradition vs modernity and how Shahraz has dealt with, and how society of Pakistan is being reflected in her works. Shahraz has so far written three novels - The Holy woman (Fated to Love) (2001) Typhoon (Love's Fury) (2003) and Revolt (2013). She is working on her fourth novel The Henna Painter. Qaisra Shahraz as a diasporic author and a multilingual intellectual, who represents the new age Muslim woman, shares her experiences of living as a Muslim woman with multiple identities in Britain. She has written three novels and several short stories, that later were compiled in a single book named A Pair of Jeans. Moreover, a critical analysis of her work features in a book entitled The Holy the Unholy Critical Essays on Qaisra Shahraz's Fiction (2011). She throughout her writings in one or the other way has raised the problems of some social evils and problems of women that reflect in both westerns part of world as well as in the society of present Pakistan.