Pakistani literature ( ur, ) is a distinct literature that gradually came to be defined after Pakistan gained nationhood status in 1947, emerging out of literary traditions of the
South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...
. The shared tradition of
Urdu literature
Urdu literature ( ur, , ) is literature in the Urdu language. While it tends to be dominated by poetry, especially the verse forms of the ''ghazal '' غزل and ''nazm '' نظم, it has expanded into other styles of writing, including that of t ...
and
English literature
English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...
of
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
was inherited by the new state. Over a big time of period a body of literature unique to Pakistan has emerged in nearly all major Pakistani languages, including
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
,
Punjabi
Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan
* Punjabi language
* Punjabi people
* Punjabi dialects and languages
Punjabi may also refer to:
* Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...
Balochi Balochi, sometimes spelt in various other ways, may refer to:
* Balochi language, a language of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan
* an adjective for something related to the Baloch people, an ethnic group of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan
* an adjecti ...
,
Pushto
Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani ().
Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages ...
and Sindhi."Prolegomena to the Study of Pakistani English and Pakistani Literature in English" (1989),
Alamgir Hashmi
Alamgir Hashmi (Urdu: عالمگیر ہاشمی), also known as Aurangzeb Alamgir Hashmi (born 15 November 1951), is an English poet of Pakistani origin. Considered avant-garde, his early and later works were published to considerable critical ...
, ''Pakistani Literature'' (Islamabad), 2:1 1993.
History
The nature of Pakistani literature soon after independence aroused controversy among writers due to its being centred heavily on the negative events related to the
independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
movement. According to Gilani Kamran ( GC University), Pakistani literature was expected to take a new direction along with the new state of Pakistan at this point, but did not immediately meet this expectation.''Pakistan Literature: Evolution & trends'' , Gilani Kamran, 2004.
Saadat Hassan Manto
Saadat Hasan Manto (; Punjabi, ur, , ; 11 May 1912 – 18 January 1955) was a Pakistani writer, playwright and author born in Ludhiana, who was active in British India and later, after the 1947 partition of India, in Pakistan.
Writing ma ...
(1912–1955), a prominent writer of short stories of South Asia, produced great literature out of the events relating to the India-Pakistan independence. His literature is considered to be progressive in its tone and spirit. According to several critics it had not only evolved its own identity but also had played a significant role in documenting the hardships and hopes of Pakistan in the latter part of the 20th century.
Today, Pakistani literature has taken a shape of its own by depicting the complex class system and the common man. It also has evolved in merging Urdu literary forms and English literature leading to experimentation. Many writers of fiction borrow from English and vice versa.
Pakistani literature's main official platform is the
Pakistan Academy of Letters
The Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) ( ur, ) is a national academy with its main focus on Pakistani literature and related fields. It is the largest and the most prestigious learned society of its kind in Pakistan, with activities throughout th ...
, whose work is overseen by a Board of Governors.
Digests
Since 1960s Pakistan had periodicals called digests. As some digests cater to current events, but a large number of them used to publish
pulp fiction
''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rhame ...
.
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
was leading in publishing of popular pulp fiction.
Ibn-e-Safi
Ibn-e-Safi (26 July 1928 – 26 July 1980) (also spelled as Ibne Safi) ( ur, ) was the pen name of Asrar Ahmad ( ur, ), a fiction writer, novelist and poet of Urdu from Pakistan. The word Ibn-e-Safi is an Persian expression which litera ...
and Shakeel Adilzada of ''
Sabrang Digest
''Sabrang Digest'' ( ur, ) was a Pakistani Urdu digest which was in circulation between 1970 and 2007
History and profile
''Sabrang Digest'' was founded on January 1, 1970 by ''Shakeel Adilzada''. The earliest editorial team included ''Shafique ...
'' (1960s) was Pakistan's early popular pulp fiction writers.
Mohiuddin Nawab
Mohiuddin Nawab ( ur, ) (September 4, 1930 - February 6, 2016) was a Pakistani novelist, screenwriter, and poet. He is famous for his popular novel series, " Devta" that was episodically and continuously published in Suspense Digest from February ...
ran a 33 year long
Suspense Digest
''Suspense Digest'' is the largest circulated monthly Urdu language suspense magazine in Pakistan. The approximately 290 to 320 pages magazine is published by JDP ( Jasoosi Digest Publications). The first issue was launched in January 1972. The pub ...
series called Devta until 2010. Some of the fiction digests not being adequately in tune with Pakistan's Islamist religious orthodoxy faced challenging times during General Zia times, but also had to find ways and means to bypass official & unofficial moral police at times by bribing them. According to Haseeb Asif historically not only romance & sexuality but also soft erotica had always been a part Pakistani pulp fiction digests, only that some of them make it feel it guilt free by imputing something negative along natural human instincts. While government tried to interfere, one important cross road came with Television and their after digital media. Some of digest writers shifted to
television drama
In film and television show, television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or docudrama, semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humour, humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms t ...
script writing, same time to sustain in business print media digests rather than subscription started depending more upon advertising & spirituality business and therefore had to compromise with their sexual openness to an extent. Haseeb Asif says as much predominant language of these digest is language of middle class in Pakistan society, consuming sexual content masked with imputing moral guilt on self & judge upper & lower classes too is feature of middle class. Asif further says while some of the authors of classical Urdu literature too explored human sexuality, but most times it comes as an argument to question social & patriarchal hypocrisy where as pulp fiction continue to compromise with misogyny & patriarchal values of the society.
Literature by language
Urdu Pakistani literature
Punjabi
Pashto
Sindhi
Saraiki
Kashmiri
Pakistani literature in other languages
English
English is an official language of Pakistan and has been established in the area since the British colonial era. The dialect of English spoken in Pakistan is known as
Pakistani English
Pakistani English (also known as Paklish or Pinglish) is the group of English language varieties spoken and written in Pakistan. It was first so recognised and designated in the 1970s and 1980s. Pakistani English (PE), similar and related to ...
. English language poetry from Pakistan from the beginning held a special place in South Asian writing, notably with the work of
Shahid Suhrawardy
Hasan Shahid Suhrawardy ( bn, হাসান শহীদ সোহরাওয়ার্দী; 24 October 1890 – 3 March 1965), also known as Shahid Suhrawardy was a Bengali diplomat, translator, poet and art critic.
Family and educatio ...
Alamgir Hashmi
Alamgir Hashmi (Urdu: عالمگیر ہاشمی), also known as Aurangzeb Alamgir Hashmi (born 15 November 1951), is an English poet of Pakistani origin. Considered avant-garde, his early and later works were published to considerable critical ...
,
Daud Kamal
Daud Kamal (4 January 1935 - 5 December 1987) (Urdu: داؤد کمال)) was a Pakistani poet who wrote most of his work in the English language.
His poetry was influenced by modernist English-language poets like Ezra Pound, W.B. Yeats and T. ...
, Taufiq Rafat, and
Maki Kureishi
Maki Kureishi (1927 Calcutta – Karachi 1995) was a Pakistani poet.
She taught at the University of Karachi for 30 years.
She wrote in English.
Her nephew is Hanif Kureshi
Hanif Kureishi (born 5 December 1954) is a British playwright, screen ...
, and later of M. Athar Tahir, Waqas Ahmed Khwaja, Omer Tarin, Hina Babar Ali and others; but fiction from
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
began to receive recognition in the latter part of the 20th century, with the popularity of the
Parsi
Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim conq ...
author
Bapsi Sidhwa
Bapsi Sidhwa ( ur, بیپسی سدھوا; born 11 August 1938) is a Pakistani novelist of Gujarati Parsi Zoroastrian descent who writes in English and is a resident in the United States.
She is best known for her collaborative work with Indo- ...
who wrote ''
The Crow Eaters
''The Crow Eaters'' is a 1978 comic novel by Bapsi Sidhwa. The novel is about a Parsi family. The book was Sidhwa's debut novel.
Sidhwa said in a 2012 interview that she was "still delighted" with the novel and regularly found passages of the boo ...
'', ''
Cracking India
''Cracking India'', (1991, U.S., 1992, India; originally published as ''Ice Candy Man'', 1988, England) is a novel by author Bapsi Sidhwa.
Summary
Setting: Lahore
Time: 1943 - 1948
This novel is generally referred to as a story about the Par ...
'' (1988), etc., after the earlier reputations of Ahmed Ali and
Zulfikar Ghose
Zulfikar Ghose (March 13, 1935 – June 30, 2022) was a Pakistani-American novelist, poet and essayist. His works are primarily magical realism, blending fantasy and harsh realism.
Biography
Born in Sialkot, Punjab, which was in British India be ...
had been made in international fiction. In the diaspora,
Hanif Kureshi
Hanif Kureishi (born 5 December 1954) is a British playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker and novelist of South Asian and English descent. In 2008, ''The Times'' included Kureishi in its list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945.
Early l ...
commenced a prolific career with the novel '' The Buddha of Suburbia'' (1990), which won the
Whitbread Award
The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...
, and
Aamer Hussein
Aamer Hussein (born 8 April 1955, Karachi) is a Pakistani critic Biography Aamer Hussein official website. ...
wrote a series of acclaimed short story collections.
Sara Suleri
Sara Goodyear ( Suleri; June 12, 1953 – March 20, 2022) was a Pakistan-born American author and professor of English at Yale University, where her fields of study and teaching included Romantic and Victorian poetry and an interest in Edmund ...
published her literary memoir, ''Meatless Days'' (1989).
Pakistani English writing has had some readership in the country. From 1980s
Pakistani English literature
Pakistani English literature refers to English literature that has been developed and evolved in Pakistan, as well as by members of the Pakistani diaspora who write in the English language. English is one of the official languages of Pakistan (t ...
began to receive national and official recognition, when the
Pakistan Academy of Letters
The Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) ( ur, ) is a national academy with its main focus on Pakistani literature and related fields. It is the largest and the most prestigious learned society of its kind in Pakistan, with activities throughout th ...
included works originally written English in its annual literary awards. The first major English writer to receive this national honour was
Alamgir Hashmi
Alamgir Hashmi (Urdu: عالمگیر ہاشمی), also known as Aurangzeb Alamgir Hashmi (born 15 November 1951), is an English poet of Pakistani origin. Considered avant-garde, his early and later works were published to considerable critical ...
. Subsequently, through the last three decades, a number of other English writers, including
Bapsi Sidhwa
Bapsi Sidhwa ( ur, بیپسی سدھوا; born 11 August 1938) is a Pakistani novelist of Gujarati Parsi Zoroastrian descent who writes in English and is a resident in the United States.
She is best known for her collaborative work with Indo- ...
and
Nadeem Aslam
Nadeem Aslam FRSL (born 11 July 1966 in Gujranwala, Pakistan) is a British Pakistani novelist. His debut novel, ''Season of the Rainbirds'', won the Betty Trask and the Author's Club First Novel Award. His critically acclaimed second novel ''Ma ...
, have been recognized by the Academy. In the early years of the 21st century, a number of Pakistani novelists writing in English won or were shortlisted for international awards.
Mohsin Hamid
Mohsin Hamid ( ur, محسن حامد; born 23 July 1971) is a British Pakistani novelist, writer and brand consultant. His novels are ''Moth Smoke'' (2000), ''The Reluctant Fundamentalist'' (2007), ''How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia'' (201 ...
published his first novel ''
Moth Smoke
''Moth Smoke'' is the debut novel by British Pakistani novelist Mohsin Hamid, published in 2000. It tells the story of Darashikoh Shezad, a banker in Lahore, Pakistan, who loses his job, falls in love with his best friend's wife, and plunges ...
'' (2000), which won the Betty Trask Award and was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award; he has since published his second novel, ''
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
''The Reluctant Fundamentalist'' is a "metafictional"Madiou, Mohamed Salah Eddine. “Mohsin Hamid Engages the World in The Reluctant Fundamentalist: ‘An Island on an Island,’ Worlds in Miniature and ‘Fiction’ in the Making.” Arab Stu ...
'' (2007), which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. British-Pakistani writer
Nadeem Aslam
Nadeem Aslam FRSL (born 11 July 1966 in Gujranwala, Pakistan) is a British Pakistani novelist. His debut novel, ''Season of the Rainbirds'', won the Betty Trask and the Author's Club First Novel Award. His critically acclaimed second novel ''Ma ...
won the
Kiriyama Prize
The Kiriyama Prize was an international literary award awarded to books about the Pacific Rim and South Asia. Its goal was to encourage greater understanding among the peoples and nations of the region. Established in 1996, the prize was last awar ...
for his second book, ''
Maps for Lost Lovers
''Maps for Lost Lovers'' is a novel by the British Pakistani writer Nadeem Aslam. It was first published by Faber and Faber in 2004.
Ostensibly about the murder of a pair of lovers, the book is in fact a minute dissection of working-class Pakis ...
'' (2004). The first novel of
Mohammed Hanif
Mohammed Hanif (born November 1964) is a British Pakistani writer and journalist who writes a monthly opinion piece in ''The New York Times.''
Hanif is the author of the critically acclaimed book ''A Case of Exploding Mangoes'', which was long ...
, ''
A Case of Exploding Mangoes
''A Case of Exploding Mangoes'' (2008)
is a comic novel by the Pakistani writer Mohammed Hanif based on the 1988 plane crash that killed General Muhammad Zia ul-Haq, former president of Pakistan. The book received generally positive reviews fro ...
'' (2008) was shortlisted for the 2008
Guardian First Book Award
The Guardian First Book Award was a literary award presented by ''The Guardian'' newspaper. It annually recognised one book by a new writer. It was established in 1999, replacing the Guardian Fiction Award or Guardian Fiction Prize that the newspap ...
. Emerging authors
Kamila Shamsie
Kamila Shamsie FRSL (born 13 August 1973) is a Pakistani and British writer and novelist who is best known for her award-winning novel '' Home Fire'' (2017). Named on ''Granta'' magazine's list of 20 best young British writers, Shamsie has bee ...
and
Daniyal Mueenuddin
Daniyal Mueenuddin ( ur, ) (born 1963) is a Pakistani-American author who writes in English. His short story collection '' In Other Rooms, Other Wonders'', has been translated into sixteen languages, and won The Story Prize, the Commonwealth Wri ...
Morning Edition
''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 AM ...
'',
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
, May 29, 2009
Persian
During the early Muslim period, foreign
Persian language
Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and ...
became the lingua franca of South Asia, adopted and used by most of the educated and the government. Urdu, Pakistan's national language and lingua franca, draws heavy influences from the
Persian language
Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and ...
(see
Persian and Urdu
The Persian language and Urdu have had an intricate relationship throughout the history of the latter. Persian historically played a significant role in the formation and development of the modern Urdu, and today acts as its prestige language.
...
). Although
Persian literature
Persian literature ( fa, ادبیات فارسی, Adabiyâte fârsi, ) comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources h ...
from
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
itself was popular, several figures in South Asia, and later Pakistan, became major poets in Persian, the most notable being
Allama Iqbal
Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( ur, ; 9 November 187721 April 1938), was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...
. For a time, Persian remained the court language of the
Mughals
The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...
, soon to be replaced by Urdu and English. Persian still held its status, despite the spread of Urdu, well into the early years of the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
rule in South Asia.
See also
*
Pakistani poetry
Pakistan’s tradition of poetry includes Urdu poetry, English poetry, Sindhi poetry, Pashto poetry, Punjabi poetry, Saraiki poetry, Baluchi poetry, and Kashmiri poetry. Sufi poetry has a strong tradition in Pakistan and the poetry of popular ...
*
Postcolonial literature
Postcolonial literature is the literature by people from formerly colonized countries. It exists on all continents except Antarctica. Postcolonial literature often addresses the problems and consequences of the decolonization of a country, especia ...
Progressive Writers' Movement
The Progressive Writers' Association or the Progressive Writers' Movement of India or ''Anjuman Tarraqi Pasand Mussanafin-e-Hind'' (( ur, ) or ''Akhil Bhartiya Pragatishil Lekhak Sangh'' (Hindi: अखिल भारतीय प्रगति ...
*
Saraiki literature
Saraiki literature is the literature of the Saraiki language of Pakistani Punjab.
Folk literature and tales
There are many folk tales associated with Ghazi Khan and his minister Gaaman Sachar, a legendary character in Saraiki folk tales.
*Ashra ...
*
Urdu literature
Urdu literature ( ur, , ) is literature in the Urdu language. While it tends to be dominated by poetry, especially the verse forms of the ''ghazal '' غزل and ''nazm '' نظم, it has expanded into other styles of writing, including that of t ...
*
Karachi Literature Festival
Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) is an annual international literary festival held in Karachi, Pakistan. It is the first festival of its kind in Pakistan. It is one of the world's youngest and fastest growing literary festivals. Till 2019, ten ...
Alamgir Hashmi
Alamgir Hashmi (Urdu: عالمگیر ہاشمی), also known as Aurangzeb Alamgir Hashmi (born 15 November 1951), is an English poet of Pakistani origin. Considered avant-garde, his early and later works were published to considerable critical ...
(New York: World University Service, 1978; Islamabad: Gulmohar Press, 1987) (2nd ed.). (OCLC #19328427; LC Card #87931006)
*''A Dragonfly in the Sun: An Anthology of Pakistani Writing in English'', edited by
Muneeza Shamsie
Muneeza Shamsie (born 1944) is a Pakistani writer, critic, literary journalist, bibliographer and editor. She is the author of a literary history ''Hybrid Tapestries: The Development of Pakistani English Literature'' (Oxford University Press) ...
(Karachi: Oxford University Press, 1997).
*''Leaving Home: Towards a New Millennium: A Collection of English Prose by Pakistani Writers'', edited by
Muneeza Shamsie
Muneeza Shamsie (born 1944) is a Pakistani writer, critic, literary journalist, bibliographer and editor. She is the author of a literary history ''Hybrid Tapestries: The Development of Pakistani English Literature'' (Oxford University Press) ...
(Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2001).
*''Post Independence Voices in South Asian Writings'', edited by
Alamgir Hashmi
Alamgir Hashmi (Urdu: عالمگیر ہاشمی), also known as Aurangzeb Alamgir Hashmi (born 15 November 1951), is an English poet of Pakistani origin. Considered avant-garde, his early and later works were published to considerable critical ...
,
Malashri Lal
Malashri (born 10 August 1973) is an Indian actress. She has predominantly worked in Kannada films and was the topmost heroine in the 1990s. She has also worked in Telugu and Tamil cinema. Malashri was popular for playing diverse roles in wome ...
& Victor Ramraj (Islamabad: Alhamra, 2001).
*Rahman, Tariq. 1991. ''A History of Pakistani Literature in English''Lahore: Vanguard Publishers (Pvt) Ltd.
Morning Edition
''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 AM ...
'',
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...