The Urdu novel charts and reflects the history of Pakistan in the entirety of its 75 years of existence, recording and narrating the ups and downs, sorrows and triumphs as well as the good times and the bad witnessed by the country since its creation.
These views were expressed by Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) Chairman Dr Yousuf Khushk, while delivering the keynote address at the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations organised by PAL, titled “75 Years of Pakistani Urdu Novel”.
Dr Ziaul Hassan presided over the programme, while Dr Ravish Nadeem was the chief guest. Essayists presented their writings and participated in the discussion online, while writers, intellectuals, teachers and students were also present at the event.
The book "Seventy-Five Years of Pakistani Urdu Novel" published under PAL was also introduced on the occasion.
Among the essayists, Dr Sumaira Omar presented her dissertation online from Lahore on the topic of "The Right to Marriage, Marital Life and Pakistani Urdu Novel". Dr Azra Parveen paid tribute to women writers through her essay from Multan on "The Female Voices of a 75-Year-Old Pakistani Urdu Novel". Dr Zaheer Abbas from Lahore spoke on the topic of "Technical and Physical Diversity in Pakistani Urdu Novel", while Dr Sajid Javed discussed "Different Shades of Women Empowerment in Pakistani Urdu Novel". Dr Mazhar Abbas from Bahawalpur presented his dissertation on "Special Pakistani Novel with reference to the tradition of anti-novel in Urdu".
Dr Muhammad Naeem offered his perspective on the theme "The World of Pakistani Urdu Novel and Its Sources", while M Khalid Fayyaz shared a talk on "The Tragedy of the Past and the Pakistani Urdu Novel of the 21st Century".
Dr Iftikhar Shafi from Sahiwal summarised his dissertation on "Dimensions of Pakistani Society in New Century Urdu Novel" and chief guest Dr Ravish Nadeem shared his views on "Intellectual and Thematic Diversity of Pakistani Urdu Novel".
In addition to essayists, a number of intellectuals participated in the event, with Dr Salahuddin Darwaish gracing the occasion by discussing "Creative world of Novels and Novel Characters". Dr Amir Sohail, Dr Tariq Javed and Hussam Hur were also present on the occasion.
Dr Yousuf Khushk said that the history of Pakistan has experienced many ups and downs and all this is reflected in the Urdu novel.
He further said that all the work done in the field of science and literature in Pakistan during these 75 years, especially in the field of genres, should be turned into a document so that a platform for researchers, critics and creators could be made available through these documents.
“Of course, there will be many dynamics from different angles, but the main purpose behind all of them is the leading role of literature from this platform,” said the PAL chairman.
Dr Ziaul Hassan thanked Dr Khushk for organising the discussion and said that hundreds of novels have been written in Urdu, including historical, romantic and detective novels.
He said that literature is written for two kinds of people; one of them being the common man, and the other being those who are well versed in ‘high literature’.
“High literature requires that in order to talk about a novel, not only should we have read our novel in its entirety, but we should also read as much of the great world fiction as possible, as well as poetry, sociology, psychology, and philosophy,” said Dr Hassan.
He further said that the centre of the novel is human existence. “All we know is that novels written in different languages of the world in different parts of the world tell us about man,” he declared.
Dr Ravish Nadeem said that the novel is an expression of an urban situation of modern industrial age. “Needless to say, this is a study and expression of man and his universe under a secular, minority and contemporary worldview,” said the chief guest.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 10th, 2022.
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