The literary forms of short story and novel were adopted in Urdu from western literature. These two forms of Urdu literature also experienced trends in Western fiction. Accordingly, in its first phase, Urdu fiction was under the sway of Romanticism. Then it went under the impact of the progressive movement, and subsequently it experienced modernism.

Jadeed Urdu Fiction: Asri Taqaze aur Badalte Rujhanat makes an attempt to discuss modern Urdu fiction from different angles. Besides examining the writings of some individual short story writers, the works of novelists have also been reviewed. Finally, the book makes an assessment of the contribution of women writers of modern fiction.

In Urdu, modern fiction began to be written in the 1960s. This modernist movement was influenced by the works of western writers such as Joyce, Kafka and Sartre. It was marked by an abundant use of symbols and references. However, the author Humaira Ashfaq says that some critics have tried to see the roots of this symbolic form of narration in the frequent incidence of martial law regimes in Pakistan.

Ashfaq, who teaches Urdu at the International Islamic University in Islamabad, has rightly observed that less capable writers of modern fiction have often turned the short story into an essay or have created problems of communication by making their short stories too complicated to be comprehensible. However, she hastens to add that gifted modern fiction writers have created remarkable pieces of symbolism and suggestiveness.

Among the short story writers the books discusses is Intizar Husain. Though he started writing short stories much earlier, he turned towards modernism when it came here in the 1960s. But, according to Ashfaq, the technical resources that he depended upon were different from those utilised by other modernist fiction writers. He utilised Islamic as well as Hindu and other non-Muslim mythologies, and thus gave a different taste to the modern short story. Ashfaq quotes Dr Sohail Ahmad Khan who has maintained that scriptures have been widely utilised as a resource in European modern literature by Eliot, James Joyce and others. Its use by Intizar Husain made it a major trend of its time in Urdu. “If any individual can be regarded as a school of literature, then it can certainly be Intizar Husain,” says Ashfaq.

She is also of the view that though Qurratulain Hyder has been acknowledged mainly as a novelist, her short stories too, are important. Almost every short story written by her employs a new technique and a different style, and this innovative trend has earned for her a high place in the history of modern fiction.

Ashfaq also discusses other important modern fiction writers such as Balraj Manra, Surendar Parkash, Rasheed Amjad and Ahmad Hamesh. She also looks at Asad Mohammad Khan, Sagheer Malal, Masud Asha’r and others in some detail, underlining the respective characteristics of their work.

On the whole, Ashfaq feels that the Urdu novel lags behind the European. However, there are some exceptionally remarkable novels written by Qurratulain Hyder, Abdullah Husain, Intizar Husain and some others. Abdullah Husain’s Udas Naslain is discussed in great detail. Ashfaq rightly regards this novel as carrying extraordinary importance among Urdu novels.

Fahmida Riaz is generally known as a poet. However, she has written a number of short stories and three novels as well. Though her novels are not voluminous, Ashfaq believes that their themes have been comprehensively dealt with. Zinda Bahar, which can also be regarded as a travelogue, is about Bangladesh and the miseries faced by the Biharis who live in camps. Riaz had undertaken a journey to Dhaka in 1989 and the novel is based on her impressions of that visit.

Karachi, as the title implies, has been knitted around the myriad issues confronted by the city’s dwellers — sectarian violence, political rivalries, class struggle, and so on. Ashfaq feels that Riaz discusses the historical, geographical and archeological aspects of the city with deep insight without deviating from the requirements of a novel. She concludes that Riaz has shown a new direction to the Urdu novel.

The contributions made by women writers to Urdu fiction is the last topic discussed in the book. There was a time when, in the male dominated Urdu literature, female writers were treated patronisingly. Ashfaq feels that the situation has now reversed as in many literary genres, women writers are at the top. In novels, Qurratulain Hyder excels, while in autobiography, Akhtar Husain Raipuri’s Gard-i-Safar hardly equals his wife’s, Hamida Akhtar’s, Humsafar.

Most of the earliest women writers belonged to the privileged class. But with the spread of education among women, there are more of female writers and they too are affected by various literary trends and movements. If Hijab Imtiaz Ali’s work was influenced by Romanticism, Ismat Chughtai was a product of the progressive movement. Other distinguished women writers of fiction discussed in the book include Rasheed Jahan, Khadija Mastoor, Mumtaz Shirin and Khalida Hussain.

It has been rightly concluded that women prose writers have not only responded to the requirements of contemporary trends but have also played an important role in the evolution and advancement of Urdu prose.

Jadeed Urdu Fiction: Asri Taqaze aur Badalte Rujhanat (LITERARY CRITICISM) By Humaira Ashfaq Sanjh Publications, Lahore 183pp. Rs250