December 11, 2001

Waris Alvi is a critic’s critic. His role in Urdu literature, which he seems to enjoy a lot, is that of a watchdog of criticism. Today few critics take their work seriously and many of them have their favourites. Shamsur Rehman Farooqui, apart from his other virtues, is known for his modernist leanings, and modernism has been made into something esoteric which is not allowed to anybody else. Alvi’s satirical reference to camels and camel rides, seemingly referring to this attitude, is, perhaps, very apt.

This book has 24 chapters and focuses on Farooqui’s book, Afsanay ki himayat mein in which Farooqui not only seems to have defended the modern short story, but has also specially commended some short story writers. He views their writings as an improvement on the earlier form which was realistic. But Alvi is irked by this form of writing which appears to him to be a meaningless exercise loaded with ignorance and self pity. He concedes that this may be a sort of reaction to the overemphasis on the external aspects of life and the chaos which surrounds us. A crack has now developed between human relationships and literature, with the latter becoming more and more loud and propagandist in form and content.

Alvi believes that Farooqui, along with Mahmood Hashmi and Shamim Hanfi, considers abstract and symbolic stories a requirement of the times. He even goes on to rate them higher than Prem Chand’s, Manto’s and Bedi’s stories, which are criticized for being of a lower standard. For example, it is said that, even Manto’s short story is so interlinked with society that it can be read as social history. Alvi says, this can as well be said about novels, dramas, short stories even about poetry from the world over. He adds that not only the short story but also literature as a whole must reflect the life around it and abstraction is not a virtue.

There are other issues too on which Alvi disagrees with Farooqui. According to Farooqui a novel in its form and scope is prestigious like cricket and tennis, whereas, a short story is equal to “gilli danda”. Alvi disputes this thesis saying that objects similar in their function are compared with each other. Thus a Rolls Royce is compared to a horse-drawn carriage.

Farooqui believes that the short story cannot have the same depth and subtlety which is the characteristic of poetry. Hence it is not worth the attention of a critic. But Alvi has a different opinion. In the West, if the tradition of fiction’s criticism is not old the reason is that the novel was first written in the eighteenth century while the short story is a product of the twentieth century. As for poetry it goes back to 2500 years. Given this long dominance of poetry, It is understandable that it has received so much attention. Poetry’s criticism is easier because the poet’s expressions are individualistic and the critic is not required to focus on the specific issues. General, universal and abstract standards are enough to evaluate poetry. In assessing fiction one has to involve oneself with realities.

The reader gets an insight into many issues of pertinence to literary discourses. The book is informative and Waris Alvi has successfully defended the short story as a genre. He delves into a mass of literature and writings of literary critics to prove his point.

Fiction ki tanqueed ka almiah
By Waris Alvi
Aaj ki kitabein, City Press Book Shop, 316, Madina City Hall, Abdullah Haroon Road, Saddar, Karachi- 74400
135pp. Rs80

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