I t is sunshine time for Pakistani authors on the global stage. Mention this that to Shehryar Fazli, upcoming Pakistani author whose book “Invitation” was recently launched in New Delhi, and he says: “May the sun never set.”
Well, from the looks of it, it is still high noon for Pakistani authors. Adding to the likes of Kamila Shamsie, Mohsin Hamid, Nadeem Aslam and Mohammed Hanif are H.M. Naqvi, who recently won the DSC Literature Prize for South Asia, and, of course, Shehryar. “I am quite thrilled for him,” says Shehryar.
“I loved the Jaipur Literature Festival. It is a boon for authors,” he says, as we begin to talk of his novel, his method of writing, and how much of a fallacy it is it to slot regard all writing emerging from Pakistani authors i authors under one easy classification.
It is the best time for Pakistani authors writing in English…
I guess it is because we are passing through tough times. As they say, bad times produce good books. Pakistan might be having its troubles, but Pakistani literature is in good shape. It is a good indication of the intellectual climate of the nation.
Over the last few years, many Pakistani writers who settled in the U.S. or the U.K. seem to be coming back to the country. Yet they are finding international acclaim. Isn't it unusual?
I call it reverse brain-drain. In the last 10 years, more people have been re-engaging with public life, and Pakistani writers are becoming more prominent within the country. People such as Hanif, Mohsin Hamid are back home. But, I do not find it unusual because we have had a tradition of the liberal elite to be vocal. There is space for writers in Pakistan today.
The country is not known for tolerating dissent. And artistes / writers have always had a troubled relationship with the establishment in Pakistan, right from Manto to Naheed…
I don't subscribe to the generalisation. Under Zia's regime too people spoke out. Yes, there is residue of censorship in the country, but it is always challenged. Nobody goes quiet.
For all the global attention on Pakistani writers, there is a tendency to expect a certain kind of novel, a certain kind of story from Pakistani authors…
To regard Pakistani authors as a monolith is a failure of imagination, failure of stories told on Pakistan. For too long, we've had certain depictions of the nation. This generation wants to reclaim that space. The present day novelists are trying to reflect what they see in life there. The country is going through a period of transition. We are only three years into democracy. What is positive is the process the country is going through. The social churning gets reflected in the writing.
Your book is said to be sexually frank. How do you draw a fine line between frankness and titillation?
In history, sexually frank books have always shocked people. What we are experiencing in the subcontinent now was experienced in the West in 1960s and 1970s. In my book, I stick to the sound defence put forward by Ismat Chughtai many years ago. I try to move the readers; the desire is to express the character. In a novel you are like a voyeur. It is specially true of scenes of intimacy.
There is something to be said about the cover of the book. Does it not lead to conclusions in the readers' mind?
When I was presented with the cover, I asked myself, ‘Does it cover the essence of the book?' My book is complex. It has many layers. A cover can, at best, merely suggest a layer.
‘Invitation' seems like a breezy read. How long did it take you to put it together?
I did several drafts. I started doing the book nearly 10 years ago. The only thing that survives now is the narrator. But, essentially I wrote it over three years when I left Pakistan for the U.S. in 2005.
