The case of exploding Pakistani literature
Writers in the country are preferring prose over poetry and a predominance of political themes in Pakistan’s English language fiction, finds Ameena Saiyid: dna
As elsewhere in South Asia, creative writing in the English language is not a new development in Pakistan. However, it has been largely over the last two decades that Pakistani literature in English has achieved prominence and has come firmly into the focus of world literary consciousness.
As a country, Pakistan has undergone a series of seismic changes through its history. Its literature has also seen many changes. I would like to focus here on the two main sets of changes. The first is the changing trend in choice of literary form, i.e. the rising preference for prose over poetry; the second relates to changes in literary content, as reflected in the growing predominance of political themes in Pakistan’s English language fiction.
