Narrative and Counter-Narrative in Pakistani English Novel

Abstract

A narrative is a form of discourse that tells about a series of events related to a community. Narration is an integral component of the literary texts which reflect the social, cultural, psychological, economic and political contexts of a nation. The nations and communities establish their identity and image through their narratives which reflect their culture, history, myths, idioms, proverbs, heroes and ideological roots. In the historical perspectives, colonialism, for instance, was established by force and power, however, later on, it was promoted and strengthened by the European poets and writers in their creative works. The novelists like Jane Austin, Joseph Conrad, Chenua Achebe, Rudyard Kipling and E.M. Forster advocated the narratives of their people which still hold good and are sold in the international community for the enhancement of the soft image of their societies. These accommodative and adoptive narratives reflect the attitude and behaviour, politics, climatic conditions, history, relationship, culture, characters and characterization, Economic philosophies, rivers, titles, themes, Settings, Hydronymy, Psychology and Symbolism in their novels. For instance, the colonial narrative is always exploited for ‘blaming the accused’ in the texts of the colonial period. Our country is in need of such novelists to come up with their imaginative creations for sensitizing the readers to the issues which have globally threatening humanity and its peaceful and productive future. They, as the children of a successful anticolonial struggle, can accommodate Pakistani narrative in their novels to the international community which is painting and presenting our negative picture. In this paper a brief analysis is drawn about the inserting of a Pakistani narrative in the socio-political, psychological and historical perspectives.