South Asian Literature: Course outline South Asian literature is one of the richest literatures in the world and is a storehouse of a rich ideological and cultural tradition. Writers from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka as well as writers of South Asian descent have won worldwide acclaim by virtue of their extraordinary creative works. South Asian literature captures the diverse and conflicting social, cultural and ideological landscape. Religion, caste, gender, globalization and social change are some of the issues in South Asian literature that merit critical investigation in postcolonial and postmodern perspectives. This course focuses on thematic and stylistic study, against a background of social and political change in 20th century South Asia, and will also consider the aesthetic merits of the texts studied. Some of the major issues to be focus of the course include religion, caste, gender, globalization and social change. Some attention will be paid to issues in colonial and postcolonial literary theory. Objectives: · Developing an understanding of the social and cultural landscape of South Asia · Learning the complexities and contradictions that characterize South Asia · Studying regional literatures in local and global contexts · Inculcating critical acumen to interpret literature critically . Determining the need of South Asian Literary theory Pakistani Literature in English A) Novels · Heart Divided by Mumtaz Shahnawaz · Noor by Sorraya Khan · Ice Candy Man by Bapsi Sidwa · Geometry of God by Uzma Aslam Khan · Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid · Slum Child by Bina Shah B) Prose . The Travels of Dean Mahomet by Sake Dean Mahmet · Pakistani English Novel: Tales of Conflict and Violence by Muneeza Shamsie · Living in the City by Asif Farrukhi · Fiction and War : Looking for Pakistan's Looking Glass by Uzma Aslam Khan C) Short Stories · Leila in Wilderness by Nadeem Aslam . The House by the Gallows By Intizar Hussain · Butt and Bhatti by Muhammad Hanif · A Beheading by Mohsin Hamid · Pop Idols by Kamila Shamsie · Mangho Phir by Fatima Bhutto . The Princess of Flowers by Habba Khatoon Indian Literature in English
. The Fiction of Robindranath Tagore: Quartet 1915 · Raja Rao: Kanthapura (193tti) · Khushwant Singh: Train to Pakistan . R K Narayan: The Guide · Anita Desai: Games at Twilight · Bharati Mukherjee: Jasmine . Rohinton Mistry: A Fine Balance · Arudhati Roy: The God of Small Things Bangladeshi Literature · Golden Age by Tahmima Anam Sri Lankan Literature · The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje · Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew by Shehan Kaunatilaka Suggested Readings 1. A History of English Literature in Pakistan by Tariq Rehman 2. A History of Indian Literature (1911-1956): Sisir Kumar Das Published by Sahitya Akademi, 2006 3. A History of Indian Literature : Marurice Winternitz (Trns. V.S.Sarma) Motilal Ltd 1996 4. Modern South Asian Literature in English: Paul Brians, Greenwood Press, London 2003 5. South Asian Partition Fiction in English : From Khushwant Singh to Amitav Ghosh 6.