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Aamna Salim Motala

Prof. Faisal Nazir

Research Methodology 641

14th April 2019

Literature Review

Pakistani Anglophone writing emerged from the literary tradition of Muslim writers in

the Indian subcontinent, particularly Ahmed Ali. His novel, Twilight in Delhi, albeit written

seven years before Partition, became the foundational text for the English literary tradition of

Pakistan. However, in contemporary Pakistani Anglophone writing, there is barely any trace left

of the tradition that began with Ali, as neocolonial forces like commercialization have changed

the way Pakistani authors write. Although it is understandable that literary traditions evolve with

time, my paper will attempt to highlight the importance of upholding the literary tradition of the

past in order to maintain an authentic cultural sensibility. Using Musharraf Ali Farooqi’s 2012

novel, Between Clay and Dust, I will also illustrate how it is possible to offer cultural resistance

to neo-colonial forces and maintain a connection with the literary tradition that began with

Ahmed Ali.

Regarding the English literary tradition of Pakistan, there is no doubt that it began with

Ahmed Ali. David D. Anderson in his paper, "Ahmed Ali and the Growth of a Pakistani Literary

Tradition in English" explores the development of this tradition and calls Ali’s Twilight in Delhi

to be the work that laid the foundation of this tradition (439). Young English writers in Pakistan
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developed this tradition by turning “to the precedents set by Ahmed Ali in Twilight in Delhi” in

works like S. M. Ayub’s Shall We Meet Again?; Zahir Faruqu’s Love in Ruins, and Nisar

Farooqi’s Faces of Love and Death (Anderson 443). He also highlights the fact that all these

works are similar to Ali’s specifically because of their “universal attempt to recreate the

incidents of commonplace life as part of the larger patterns of nature” (443). This gives my paper

an argumentative claim regarding the shift in Pakistani Anglophone literary tradition that

contemporary novels are no longer maintaining the literary traditions of the past. In most

contemporary English fiction works in Pakistan, themes reminiscent of Ahmed Ali’s Twilight in

Delhi are absent. This also develops the comparative analysis of my paper with Farooqi’s novel,

as the same universal attempt can be traced in his novel as well. Moreover, Anderson analyses

themes in Ali’s novels such as time, loss of culture, the presence of the British colonial powers,

and death, all of which are traceable in Farooqi’s novel as well, furthering developing my claim

that it is a novel that attempts to return to the literary tradition of the past.

The literary tradition of the past did not begin with Ahmed Ali without reason. In the

newly emerged nation of Pakistan, the kind of cultural resistance to the British Raj in his novel

suited the fervor and passion of a people that had just gained independence from the British. This

kind of cultural resistance is what Hasan Askari describes as Ahmed Ali’s non-literary purpose

of writing. In his essay, “A Novel by Ahmed Ali”, Askari discusses the two main purposes of

Ali’s novel: “one literary, creative, artistic; the other essentially non-literary” and claims the

primary, non-literary intention is to write a “guide to Delhi for Englishmen” (30). To fulfill his

purpose, Ali had to use English, which wasn’t a language that was made to depict a city or

culture like Delhi’s which is why Ali had to “twist and turn it to suit his purpose” and make “a

foreign language subservient to his artistic will” (Askari 31). In this way, Askari exemplifies
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what is required of Pakistani writers in order to adapt the English language for their artistic

creations. Moreover, Askari explains the use of details in the novel as having “artistic intent” and

calls Twilight in Delhi a collective (ijtimai) novel where the hero is the city of Delhi itself, and

the characters represented are not the whole of the novel but rather the whole is made up of the

city, its culture, and an entire nation of Muslims in pre-partition Indian subcontinent (32). The

details present in the novel are of vital significance because they helped the author in his purpose

of depicting the “spirit of collective life and the values of collective unity” (Askari 33). Thus, the

idea of authentic representation of culture which is lost in most contemporary Pakistani

Anglophone novels that is explored in my paper can be emphasized through Askari’s analysis of

Ahmed Ali’s use of details and subversion of the English language.

Apart from the use of details, the themes explored in Ali’s novel are also what make it

impactful enough to be considered the foundational text of English fiction in Pakistan. Hasan

Askari conducts a thematic analysis of Twilight in Delhi in his paper as well. He describes the

theme of illness and death in the novel to be explored neither emotionally nor ineffectively (35).

Moreover, nature is used thematically and symbolically in the novel to “depict the decay and the

end of Delhi’s culture” (Askari 36). Additionally, he claims that the theme of the flight of time

and its treatment in the novel is what makes it a novel applicable “to the whole of humanity”

(37). The discussion on these themes allows a deeper understanding of what is required,

thematically, of Pakistani English novels according to the literary tradition. This analysis will

help my paper in its comparative study of Twilight in Delhi with Farooqi’s Between Clay and

Dust, as themes like time and death are also present in the latter.

Admittedly, authors are free to write of their own free will and are not obliged to adhere

to any thematic or stylistic way of writing – no matter how rich a literary tradition they descend
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from – there is still a concern regarding authentic representation that is expected of Pakistani

writers. This problem is discussed in Masood Ashraf Raja’s paper, "The Pakistani English

Novel: The Burden Of Representation And The Horizon Of Expectations.” He says that

Pakistani fiction in English is received by the readers with a certain expectation of the author to

offer national representation (1) and when authors represent “the most troubling aspects of

Pakistani culture” by playing their role as cultural critics, the readers in turn feel betrayed and

sense a “negation of the richness and beauty of Pakistani culture” (3). Raja takes the term

“burden of representation” from Kobena Mercer1 and claims that Pakistani writers are faced with

two types of burdens when it comes to representation: “the expectations of the metropolitan

market and the pressures and pulls of their own primary culture.” Therefore, authorial intention

is “structured and enforced” by these expectations (3). Using Aijaz Ahmad’s argument of

metropolitan appropriation of the Third World, Raja describes that works produced by Pakistani

writers for the metropolitan market are reliant on certain canonized tropes (4). This argument

testifies to my claim of the shift in the Pakistani Anglophone literary tradition. In Ahmed Ali’s

time when the literary tradition was being developed, the pressure of the metropolitan market did

not exist, which resulted in works that were more genuine in terms of both, authorial intention as

well as national representation. My paper will reiterate Raja’s suggestion that Pakistani writers

“should use this global reach not just to sanctify the pre-existing stereotypes but to also challenge

and complicate the stereotypical views of Pakistan” (6).

The literary tradition of Pakistani Anglophone writing that began with Ahmed Ali has

been abandoned for the most part, being replaced with works that suit the expectations of the

1
Kobena Mercer used this term in Welcome to the Jungle when describing the issues of representation, claiming
that artists are burdened with the “impossible task of speaking as representatives” (235).
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metropolitan market or are influenced by commercialization. Using the definition of Pakistani

Anglophone literary tradition as given by David D. Anderson or Askari’s analysis of Twilight in

Delhi will help substantiate my claim regarding the importance of maintaining a connection with

the literary tradition of the past. Raja’s idea of burden of representation will take the discussion a

step forward as contemporary writers’ roles and authorial intention can be gauged from another

perspective. Moreover, the literature used will allow an in-depth comparative analysis of the two

novels used in my paper, especially regarding thematic and stylistic similarities and differences.
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Works Cited

Anderson, David D. "Ahmed Ali and the Growth of a Pakistani Literary Tradition in

English". World Literature Written In English, vol. 14, no. 2 (1975), pp. 436-449. doi:

10.1080/17449857508588359.

Askari, Muhammad Hasan, et al. “A Novel by Ahmed Ali.” Journal of South Asian Literature,

vol. 33/34, no. 1/2 (1998), pp. 243–254. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23234245.

Mercer, Kobena. Welcome to the Jungle. New York: Routledge, 1994.

Raja, Masood Ashraf. "The Pakistani English Novel: The Burden Of Representation And The

Horizon Of Expectations". Pakistaniaat, vol. 6, 2018.