Of Capitalism and Critique: ‘Af-Pak’ Fiction in the Wake of 9/11

Abstract

At the risk of stating the obvious, I begin by noting that Pakistani anglophone fiction rose to prominence on the global literary map after 11 September 2001, bringing greater international attention to writers of Pakistani origin like Mohammed Hanif, Mohsin Hamid, Daniyal Mueenuddin and H.M. Naqvi, as well as figures such as Aamer Hussein, Nadeem Aslam and Kamila Shamsie who have been around somewhat longer. To suggest that this increased visibility is not coincidental but connected to renewed public interest in the region that, in the jargon of international relations, came to be known as ‘Af-Pak’ in the wake of the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan is also unlikely to be controversial. Noting that a 2010 special issue of Granta Magazine on Pakistan focuses almost entirely on the ‘War on Terror years, the political upheaval, the instability, the danger and death’, the Pakistani writer Bina Shah finds herself wondering whether violence and ‘terror’ have become ‘sexy to Western readers’ implicating some writers in a ‘cold-blooded consideration of market trends’ (2012, p. 152). In an essay which is justifiably sceptical of this phenomenon, Shah ends up conceding, however, that events pursuant to 11 September 2001 ‘have been so overwhelming and all-surrounding’ that they cannot be evaded as creative concerns by writers from the region (p. 151). The ‘most dangerous country on earth,’ she notes wryly, ‘is a pretty exciting place in which to be a writer’ (p. 153).