Daily Times

Pakistani postcolonial fiction is the stories of its producers, in one way or another, about them or their families. Most of these tales are relevant to the political history of Pakistan. The unique flavour of these stories is that it is private and public and the public is personal, meaning the individual’s stories are told in such narratives that they become the stories of the people. The shared stories become unique and individual stories. Seen through this angle, these narratives become the national narratives describing not only political history but also the history of social life.

One of the best examples of such stories is the fictional memoir Meatless Days by Sara Suleri, wherein the author begins to write a personal story and extends it o the public story. She begins wither grandmother, who had migrated from India to Pakistan and had witnessed a massive exodus of migrants moving towards Pakistan after leaving their homes and hearths behind. The emotional and psychological trauma associated with the grandmother extends to other lives also. The first wife of Sara’s father has to bear the second wife, lose her status, and live a life of misery. Similarly, the sisters and brothers of Sara also undergo multiple traumas and psychological issues. The stories of all these characters are the stories at home, but they become the stories of eh public also, with a particular flavour of the political history of Pakistan. For example, the father of Sara has to undergo oppression and suffering because of the oppressive regime in Pakistan.

The same is the case with the story of Hamid in his ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’, wherein the author narrates his story constantly shifting from America to Pakistan in the backdrop of the 9/11 debacle. All aspects of his story, from his love for America, and Erica his education and job plus money, is the translation of almost every Pakistani who can touch the land of the US. But equally is the prejudice, hatred and dislike of Americans towards a simple Pakistani the part of the story that is played inside Pakistan is again a representation of the psychosocial change the Pakistanis would feel towards aggressive war campaigns of the USA. Similarly, the efforts of moderate, progressive Pakistanis are also represented through the character of Changez, the protagonist. The part of the story about the family in Lahore is typical of the life one extended family lives in our social setup. This and many other aspects of the story talk about the personal and private account, which is beautifully made public. Not only this, but the shared stories with a tinge of political history also become private.

Public and private interplay is also evident t in Bapsi Sidhwa’s stories, especially in Ice Candyman. Here the author is present in the tale visibly, along with the stories of the family but not without the political history of that time of partition. Lenny, the child protagonist, narrates every moment of her world while associating with many characters like Ayah, Imam Din, Raana, and Ice Candyman. The stories of all these characters are also individual but deeply attached to the lives of others. Political history plays a significant role in this, especially during the partition in 1947. The horror and the bloodshed witnessed by Lenny become part of the stories of Hameeda and Shanta. As such, the novel becomes an excellent amalgam of public and private stories with a dominant tinge of political history.

The writer is a professor of English at Government Emerson University, Multan. He can be reached at zeadogar@hotmail.com and Tweets at @Profzee