Description
The State of Nation, Diasporic Predicaments, and War Memories in Contemporary South Asian Anglophone Fiction
The book critically examines fairly recent South Asian Anglophone Fiction, with regard to the postcolonial themes of literary criticism: the state of nation and diasporic identity, by centring half a dozen fictive texts of prominent novelists originating from South Asian countries of India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Sunjeev Sahota’s The Year of the Runaways (2015) and Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017) are critically evaluated as the state of nation novels depicting the Hindutva and caste led radicalization in Indian society. Nadeem Aslam’s Maps for Lost Lovers (2004) and Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire (2017) are explicated as the emblems of identity-related predicaments, either originating from the local homeland culture or religion, of the Pakistani diaspora in Britain. Anuk Arudpragasam’s novels, The Story of a Brief Marriage (2016) and A Passage North (2021) are shown as the memorial temple sites for the Sri Lankan Tamils to help commemorate the memories of those lost during the twenty-six-year-long Sri Lankan Civil War and also those living with acute post-war traumas.
Aamer Shaheen has a PhD in English Literature and has taught English Literature for almost two decades. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor of English Literature in the Department of English Literature at Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan. He has published many academic research papers in various national and international research journals. He has published the book National Imagination and Diasporic Identities in ‘Pakistani Anglophone 9/11 Fiction’ (2020, Misaal Publishers). He spends his time reading, voraciously, fictions in ‘englishes’ and lives between Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, and Faisalabad.
Advance Praise
The State of Nation, Diasporic Predicaments, and War Memories in Contemporary South Asian Anglophone Fiction is a significant addition to the field of subaltern studies and postcolonial literature. While mapping political and social resistance of silenced and unheard voices from South Asia, in a series of closely linked essays, Shaheen’s book raises compelling questions related to community, caste sanctions, gender, religion, human rights and violence.
Dr. Aroosa Kanwal
Islamic International University, Islamabad, Pakistan
[Shaheen’s book is] grounded in the material historico-political realities of South Asian societies in the backdrop of their colonial past, neocolonial present and postcolonial future. In this sense, it is almost an act of atonement on Shaheen’s part to have written this book which I am sure will offer exciting and new insights into the reading of South Asian Fiction in English.
Dr. Asma Aftab Khan
Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan
[…] Building his analyses on the works of a wide range of theorists and critics, Shaheen has attempted to enlarge the array of analytical tools used in postcolonial theory and criticism and, thereby, to expand the scope of postcolonial studies. The book demonstrates the author’s ability to bring fresh critical concepts and frames to analyze perennial issues in postcolonial literature.
Dr. Faisal Nazir
University of Karachi, Pakistan
[…] Shaheen provides timely insights for scholars keenly interested in studying the changing dynamics of the subcontinent’s socio-political terrain and its intersections with literature. A thought provoking addition to the expanding corpus of literary criticism on Anglophone voices emerging from South Asia, Shaheen’s [book] is undeniably a valuable academic work.
Dr. Asma Mansoor
Islamic International University, Islamabad, Pakistan
About the Author
Aamer Shaheen has a PhD in English Literature and has taught English Literature for almost two decades. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor of English Literature in the Department of English Literature at Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan. He has published many academic research papers in various national and international research journals. He has published the book "National Imagination and Diasporic Identities in ‘Pakistani Anglophone 9/11 Fiction’" (2020, Misaal Publishers). He spends his time reading, voraciously, fictions in ‘englishes’ and lives between Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, and Faisalabad.
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