Urdu Literature - Independent Writers

Independent Writers

By the end of the 1980s the atmosphere in Urdu literature became very depressing. The progressive movement was almost dead and the modernist movement had started showing it's complete infertility. But this was also time for upsurge of new creative forces which was basically rooted in the new life that was metamorphosing the socio-economic and political climate in the sub-continent after the days of partition and freedom. It was under this climate that the a new era of fiction started with the publication of Paigham Afaqui's novel Makaan. Almost allergic and fed up with the attempts of various literary movements to influence the styles and thoughts of the writers and the literary politics emerging out of the commitments to the movements which created a vicious circle of promoting chosen writers and misuse of resources and awards for promoting their own brands by these movements, Paigham Afaqui and other writers refused to be identified by any movement and displayed complete independence in using personally developed styles and technique for writing novel and explored their own philosophy and vision of life that suited their need. It was a serious departure from the theme of partition which dominated writers like Qurtul Ain haider and Abdullah Hussain and the theme of existentialism which was the benchmark of modernism. Writers like Ghazanfer and Musharraf Alam Zauqi have further widened the horizons of new themes and concerned.