Renowned French scholar David Waterman called on Prof Fateh Muhammad Malik, the rector of the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) here on Wednesday and exchanged his views with the host on contemporary Pakistani literature.
Prof Malik appreciated Waterman’s efforts in that regard. Meanwhile, the university also organized a presentation on “Contemporary Novels in English: History, Nation and Family”, said a press release issued here on Wednesday.
David Waterman, the associate professor at the University of La Rochelle France, gave his presentation on the subject. He told the audience that the story of a nation could not be explained without its historical backdrop, particularly a new one like Pakistan.
Regarding Pakistani literature, he said, it emerged during the freedom movement. He described ‘the germs of extreme nationalism’ based on religious norms, social set-up, a quest for freedom of cultural and traditional heritage with special reference to early Pakistani literature. The post-partition literature, he said, dealt with the socio-political, ideological and ethnic problems of the Pakistani society. He added further that it was essential to make the distinction between literal and exemplary memory as the first would subordinate the present to the past while the second allowed the past to be exploited in the present.
He elaborated that cultural identity was always a function of social relations and the struggle of families as units offered the reader a personal perspective with which to consider issues of cultural identity on a large scale. So, history can be taken as narratives of nation and families, said David.
