It is sunshine time for Pakistani authors on the global stage.
Try saying that to Shehryar Fazli, upcoming Pakistani author whose book “Invitation” has recently been launched in New Delhi, and he adds a poignant note, “May the sun never set.”
Well, from the looks of it, it is still high noon for Pakistani authors. Adding to the names of the likes of Kamila Shamsie, Mohsin Hamid, Nadeem Aslam and Mohammed Hanif are authors such as H.M. Naqvi who won the DSC Literature Prize for South Asia the other day, and of course, Shehryar.
“I am quite thrilled for him,” says Shehryar, settling down for a quick chat at the British Council's impromptu reading room. “I have absolutely loved the Jaipur Literature Festival. May it never end. 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 is it to regard all writing emerging from the pen of authors of Pakistani origin under one easy classification.
It is the best time for Pakistani authors writing in English…
It is indeed sunshine time for writers. I guess it is basically because we are passing through some 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 past 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 ten years more people are re-engaging with public life and Pakistani writers are becoming more prominent within the country. People like Hanif, Mohsin Hamid are back home. But I do not find it unusual because we have had a tradition of liberal elite to be vocal, activist. 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 necessarily subscribe to this generalisation. Under the Zia 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 have 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 is all getting 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 the 1960s-70s. My book is sexually frank but it does not titillate. 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.
Finally, “Invitation” seems like a breezy read. How long did it take you to put it together?
I did several drafts. I actually started doing the book some 10 years ago. Now the only thing that survives is the narrator. But essentially I wrote it over three years when I left Pakistan for the U.S. in 2005.
