Prose in Pakistani Literature

MuDasir Hussian
Huss201101050
1. Biographies:
• Feroz Khan Noon from Memory (1966)
• Shaista Ikramul Jah from Purdah to Parliament (1963)
• Politicians, Generals, and other men are more prominent in writing
biographies than the writers.
2. Prose of Humor by Maya Jamil:
• History of humorous prose from Mohammad Ali & Shaukat Ali’s famous
paper “Comrade” (1911 in Delhi).
• Phantom figures (Articles I.C.S Commissioner whom they called a minor
deity).
• Next mentioned writers used laughter as a safety valve in order to retain
sanity.
3. Khalid Hasan:
• A Mug’s Came (1968)
• The Crocodiles are Here to Swim (1970)
• Scorecard (1984)
• Give us back our Onions (1985)
• All of these are the Essays published in newspapers, but he had also
published them as a book.
• “The Queen’s English, Whither English” Points out the defects of Pakistani
English. And in “The Queen’s English, Local Style” gave the remedies.
 4. Khwaja Ahmad Abbas:
• Not a humorist.
• Travelogue outside India (1938): The world he visited especially The
Bombay Chronicle.
• Opposes Japanese glamorization of the army and Hitler’s jingoism.
• Condemned colonial oppression and the oppression by Nazis of the Jews.
• Attacks capitalism especially American capitalism.
• The best writer to understand the development of Muslim liberalism in pre-
partition India.
5. Omar Kureishi:
• Cricket commentator, who lives in Karachi.
• Writer for Karachi newspaper The Dawn and The Star.
• His first prose book was Black Moods (which deals with the life of Karachi
during the 1950s).
• The second book was Out to Lunch (covers years between 1956 to
1958).
• Khalid Hasan’s work “Give me Omar Kureishi Any Time” was recognition
of him as a cricket commentator.
• His essay Common man he tries to find that common man for whom our
Politicians claim to be laboring.
• The Rain and For The People are famous for not being humorous.
6. Anwar Mooraj:
• Sand, Cacti, and People (1960) show his contribution to English papers.
• Knows German also.
• His humor depends upon the manipulation of words and not on the
events, on the situation, or on the caricature.
7. Haleem Abdul Aziz:
• Nothing in Particular & Nothing in Earnest (1967), Solo (1968), O
Bartender (1968), The Decayed (1968), Pop Writing (1975) many others.
• He was a Sindhi and published many works on Sindhi literature in English.
• He uses Pakistani slang in his English works and touches the taboo topics
to discuss like sex.
• “Is there any difference between satisfying one person and satisfying a
thousand persons? Never mind the thousand, but why refuse me? That is
why I prefer prostitutes to chaste women. What are to do with their
chastity? Lick it in the heavens? And suppose licking is prohibited in the
heavens then? And A lady with a principle is like a lady with a stick– not a
good sight, you will agree. Women should have no principles”.
• Before Zia he was not banned on the ground.
• He wasn’t well known in Pakistan. Why?
8. Justice Malik Rustum Kayani:
• Gave speeches that were enjoyed enormously by the upper middle class.
• These speeches have been reproduced in four books:
• Not the Whole Truth (1962)
• Half Truths (1966)
• Some More Truths (1971)
• A Judge May Laugh (1961)
• President of West Pakistan C.S.P Association. (Half Truth) about the
salaries of the CSP officers
• He was the Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court and spoke in favor of
the independence of the Judiciary when Ayyub Khan became the dictator.
• His speeches were not as withy and humorous as they seemed to his
audiences.
• “Gentleman, it is nine years and a day since I joined this court as a judge.
It was the 1st of April, as Mr. President has pointed out, and considering
that it was the 1st of the April, I have not all done badly”.