Daily Times

The highest form of social consciousness reflects in the culture a society possesses. This culture, however, is an innate asset the society cherishes. Through the course of centuries, authors, scholars and men of letters observe their surroundings and their inner self before writing their feelings. These writings can take the form of poetry or prose; novels or books; essays or journals. This literature becomes the essence of society. In reality, it represents the many hidden and otherwise observed facades of society. It includes the views, principles, ideas and expectations that are continuously being formed as the society as a whole tends to ponder over a subject, issue or social concern.

Culture, on the other hand, embodies the thought process of a certain group of people characterized by their creed, religion and geography. Literature, therefore, emerges from this culture. The authors belonging to a specific culture use it to idealize, symbolize and manifest their opinion. Culture is perhaps a result of a society’s collective consciousness coming into form at a macro level. This leads to the respective society to adhere to a thought promoted through its literature. Saadat Hassan Manto’s views and his literary works are perhaps a prime example of how literature stems out of culture. Manto used these cultural dynamics in his stories to represent the dark realities that were considered taboo to converse about.

While a culture represents the opinion of a society, a sub-culture is where the narratives begin to change swiftly without changing the image of the very culture it represents

While Manto’s works showed a culture people of his era did not want to talk about, the literary efforts of Ibn-e-Safi depicted a culture that was based on fiction. Ibn-e-Safi, whose real name was Asrar Ahmed, used his creativity and ingenuity to use science fiction as a theme for his literary undertakings. He used mystery along with science fiction that was a theme unheard of during his era. One wonders how do writers such as Ibn-e-Safi used unorthodox themes to gain success? It is because of man’s inquisitiveness. The ‘what’ and the ‘why’ of a story compel readers to continue reading a story even if the theme has never been used before. Furthermore, humans have been exposed to fairy tales and fables ever since they are children. If we look into our yesteryears, our parents and grandparents told us stories about fairies, dwarfs, giants, talking animals, mystery, magic and adventure. This curiosity led humans to craft fictional stories. The Great Gatsby by Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (1925), The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien (1937), The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis (1950); The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (1954) among others are key examples of how authors used imagination to create stories, plots, characters and worlds that were non-existent but did stir the reader’s thoughts once they surfaced.

While a culture represents the opinion of a society, a sub-culture is where the narratives begin to change swiftly without changing the image of the very culture it represents. For instance, late Ishtiaq Ahmed’s popular Inspector Jamshed series portrayed the life of an honest and brave detective who solved cases with the help of his close friends and children. What transpired from Ishtiaq Ahmed’s stories was a realistic, factual-fiction narrative that bred qualities of friendship, courage and honesty among the readers who were and are still teenagers and children. Another example of a sub-culture is seen in the writings of Patras Bukhari, who uses humor and satire to explain his thoughts. His essays and writings such as Hostel main parhna, Kuttay, Main ek mian houn, Sawairay jo kal aankh meri khuli, Marhoom ki yaad main depict works that are closer to reality, are humorous and have elements of satire. Had there been no cultural boundaries across the world, literature too would have been just a vaguely presented idea. However, with cultures being divided based on geographical boundaries, the communities, societies and groups of people created and adapted literature based on their ideas and rationale.

The writer is an independent researcher, author and columnist