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review Documents
of history Zia Mohyeddin column jewels Part II Sophocles lived to a ripe old age of 90 and wrote as many plays, if not more... We now know that he wrote at least a hundred plays of which only seven of his tragedies are extant. He made several innovations in dramaturgy. He reduced the chorus to a minimum. His chorus became primarily a group of spectators who follow the dramatic action closely, react to it emotionally, and comment on it without losing themselves in irrelevant generalisations. Memoirs of a cyberspace clerk Neither does this book follow the three-act structure nor a traditional graph of character development -- this is the brave new world of post-modern fiction By Arif Waqar When William Gibson coined the word "Cyberspace"
in 1984, he himself was not very clear on what it really meant. It connoted,
in his own words, "a consensual hallucination experienced daily by
billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught
mathematical concepts... A graphical representation of data abstracted from
the banks of every computer in the human system… An unthinkable complexity…
Lines of light ranged in the non-space of the mind, clusters and
constellations of data…" Twenty six years on, the term is still an enigma. To some, Cyberspace is simply the electronic medium of computer networks; to others, it is the dynamic realization of electromagnetic energy through the application of which individuals can interact and exchange ideas. But for the protagonist of Mirza Athar Baig it is much more than that: "…it’s the space-less space which is born through the confluence of billions of computers spread all over the globe, and in order to embark on your journey through this non-space, you knock on the electronic gate of the internet with the click of your mouse and then riding the chariot of digital impulse, dash towards fantastic destinations" Zaki, the hero of Mirza’s new novel "Sifr Se Aik Takk" tells us very enthusiastically that we can share information, provide social support, conduct business, direct actions, create artistic media, play games, engage in political discussion, and above all, control others, through the power of information. In the carefully managed post-modern set-up of his novel, Mirza tells us the story of a traditional feudal family with their huge estate and an equally vast world of their servant quarters with cooks, masseurs, handymen, accountants and clerks, or munshies, as they prefer to call them. The story begins roughly in the seventh decade of the 20th
century, when a maverick young man among the munshies, decides to computerize
the accounts of the Salaar family. The young man Zaki is still a student and
the accounts are looked after by his father who has inherited bulky registers
and large-sized ledgers from the previous generations of the book-keepers.
The old man is much excited to see what wonders that toy called computer
could do: "Sometimes I suspect, my son, that the whole mischief is of
this machine, this computer," said Abba Jee. ''Old folks and especially
oldies like me should stay away from it. Had the damn thing not come here in
my home I could never have the devilish quirk in my mind that the munshies of
the Salaar family should open one last account of their own as well, that
they should tie up their last satchel to settle the account... I would have
continued with my munshi’s work for ever, like our loyal forefathers…" Faizan Salaar represents the younger generation of the Salaars. He is a university student and apparently a friend of Zaki’s, but can not outgrow the inherent master-servant relationship that is so deeply ingrained in their relationship. The French student of journalism, Zulaikha, is in fact a girl with mixed parentage. She is gaining the experience of working in a hostile environment, but finally becomes a victim of it. If we try to find a 'female lead’ in the story, Zulaikha is perhaps the closest to the traditional category, but the fact is that there seems to be nothing traditional in the novel, which is basically a study of the deeper power structures of Pakistani society as metamorphosed during the last three decades of the 20th century through the global phenomena of information technology and its myriad manifestations like personal computers, cell phones, internet, e-mailing, chatting, instant messaging and so on. The intervention of these apparently post-modern technologies in our pre-modern society has given rise to bizarre socio-cultural situations and grotesque subjective and interpersonal formations. The novel can rightly claim to be first such attempt to unravel the complexities of an unprecedented social condition, which perhaps should by now have caught the eyes of our sociologists. "When I moved the cursor towards Zulehkha’s name I had a strange sensation of as if touching her. Ah, I won’t dare tell you what I felt when I clicked on her name, no one would believe me, everybody would say that this computer buff has gone out of his mind. Anyway that was how it was, and the very next moment the text of a message from Paris, appeared on the screen of the monitor". The characters of Mirza’s novel are not living in a traditional space-time continuum taken for granted in real life and hence in all reality-based fiction. The novelist has deep awareness of the fact that we are now living in a 'world time’ in which all sorts of events can be transmitted live. So, it’s possible for us to sit in our room in Gujranwala and watch a cricket match being played in Nottingham and at the same time receive an email from Chicago and chat with a friend in London. Zaki chats on his computer screen with Zulehkha, his French girlfriend in Paris, and everything going on in the inexorable presence of his voluptuously rustic sweetheart in the deep Punjabi town of Bhalikay. The whole class of events being generated through these unique interactions of the human and the technological become wildly surrealist. They come to be persistently haunted by a sense of terrible foreboding, the premonition of some global disaster Zaki alludes to so persistently, none other but September 11. But the author has been careful not to mention the event of September 11 directly, it stays in the background and is only referred to as the 'big event’. The references to the binary notation of zero and one (sifr se aik), the fundamental language of computation, and the ubiquitous cyberspace in the title of the novel, unmistakably predispose the reader to anticipate some narrative unprecedented in Urdu fiction -- and s/he is not disappointed. This is a digitalized saga of the same ruthless forces of oppression, mediocrity and bigotry in their new garb; the Salaar network, the Kubba group, and the Super Salaar computer game, are the new metaphors of our tortuous existence at the turn of the century. Understandably the canvas of novel does not remain limited to our own geographic space and society but extends through the new magic of cyberspace to the entire globe. This gives rise to a new logistic of event which simultaneously operates on two planes: notwithstanding its exploration of the ephemerally global cyberspace, the narrative existentially delves on the highly local and specific as well. The so-called 'mohallah conference’ depicting the street wisdom of Lahore is one such area of narrative which is interspersed in the fabric of the novel with its darkly funny moments, having the overtones of black humour and touching the borders of pastiche. The other case in point is the character of Zaki’s brother, a fake holy man (Pir Saab) who publicly flashes his fakeness as a point of distinction but all that is a ruse for the satisfaction of his ever-unquenched carnal desire verging on satyriasis. The bizarre diversity of the events is further extended through writer’s exploration of the metaphysics of 'holes’ with reference to the human body in the backdrop of devilishly designed physical agony the protagonist is subjected to, during the flow of nightmarish events taking place in the torture-chamber of a saw mill. The Poe-Kafkaesque ambience of this location keeps the reader spellbound throughout the sequence. And as if this wasn’t enough, the writer, much in line with his obsession for the theme of madness, develops the character of Faizan Salaar into a self-proclaimed national reformer who pursues an insane plan to prompt all the present and past national criminals to become approvers and help expose the rest of the 'gangs’. The writer seems to take special pleasure in his portrayal of the 'Hunchbacks of Lahore’ more commonly known as "Kubba Group" -- a term connoting pseudo-intellectuals, sham-cultural pundits, rootless social opinion-makers and the self-styled guardians of art and culture. The eternal psychodynamics of man-woman relation and the triangular conflict ensuing after the arrival of the 'other’ is uniquely explored through the sensual portrayal of the character of Gamo -- a young midwife and a deeply earthy femme fatale rising from the soil. The creative synthesis of the global and the local perhaps can be best witnessed in the character of Munshi Attaullah, Zaki’s father; a man fairly traditional in outlook yet through his native genius succeeds, with the help of his computer scientist son of course, in discovering the devastating powers of computation to demolish the edifice of the treacheries of his old masters, but at a horrible price for the entire munshi family. The narrative of phantasmagoric events, in spite of its thematic multiplicity and occasional relapses to almost literal computer programming with its technical lingo jutted in, sustains its readability which at times appears to be willfully crafted on the model of a thriller. The novel has been dedicated to Allen Turing, the father of modern computer science. Perhaps the writer had in mind not only the significance of the Turing machine in the development of modern Information Technology, but also the tragic end of Allen Turing , as a symbolic reference to the clash of the rational mind and the forces of intolerance. And finally, a word of caution for the readers who are not exposed to any genre of post-modern narrative: This is not a story with a three-act structure, or a traditional graph of character development. Things may happen abruptly, or a situation may take ages to develop and still not reach its climax. We may find ourselves surrounded in seemingly half-baked situations and semi-developed characters, because this is the brave new world of post-modern fiction. If however we don’t like to be disturbed by these unusual literary devices, we can safely re-visit our good old Razia Butt, or wait for the next episode from Seema Ghazal.
Documents of history The book aptly chronicles the cultural life of Pakistani society spread well over the last 40 years By Sarwat Ali Qatray Main Dariya By Intizar Hussain Sang-e-Meel Publications, 2010 www.sang-e-meel.com Pages: 419 Price Rs900
Intizar Hussain is one of the most prominent writers of Pakistan. His contribution has been so great in the areas of fiction; afsana, novel and even criticism that one tends to forget that he has also been a columnist for the better part of his life. His journey as a columnist started decades ago in Urdu and the birth of the twin as an English columnist came 40 years later. In this long innings spread over a period of over six decades, he has experienced and absorbed much in the land of the pure. For a serious writer, this divide between journalism and literature has always existed -- perhaps unfairly so at times: journalism deals with the instant and literature with the eternal and newspaper writings have an age of a day while literary writings are relevant as eternal realities. But this black and white divide is only relative because most of the leading writers of Pakistan, and India too, have been associated with journalism. Actually quite a few writers in the developed world too have been full-time journalists or have had a brush with journalism. In Pakistan, as indeed in the third world, the opportunities available to creative writers were and are rather limited. The writer may get published but the sales may never guarantee a steady livable income. To ward off his difficulty many writers of great promise decided to opt for a steady profession that was nearest to their vocation. Many joined the teaching profession while most took to journalism. This opting for a steady profession as a fall back position has also influenced the way the divide between journalistic and literary writing is conditioned. Since it is perceived as a second choice, a necessary evil, it is placed below the independence of spirit and lack of restraint that creative writing is perceived to embody. The writings of Intizar Hussain as a journalist have never received the kind of attention and adulation that his other writings have done -- though it is a matter of curiosity that they did not. A creative writer, with the gift of writing and a peculiar sensibility, has more to offer than the one less sensitive to style and the turn of phrase. He had been consistently writing Urdu columns, starting with Mashriq where he wrote daily in the beginning and later for some other magazines and papers like Aaj Kal. Realising the importance of these writing on the suggestion of his friend Riaz Anwar, the first selection of the columns were published as 'Zarre’ with a preface by Dr Sohail Ahmed and then another one as 'Boond Boond’ with the assistance of Saleem-ur-Rehman. He discovered from among his papers another selection done earlier on what he thought was significant but were never published in a book form till now as 'Qatray Main Dariya’. These columns are reflective of the strength of his style as well as the importance that he assigned to topics which political analysts would find of lesser consideration. The first column to be included in this selection is from the year 1963. The columns when read in a book form offer a good chronology of events that unfolded in the 60 odd years of the country. As said earlier, what he chose as a topic was not necessarily political or of immediate nature but if placed within a larger context documents a kind of a socio-cultural history of the country which is quite revealing and eye-opening. The problems that bedevil this country have been there since its inception and the hue and cry that one keeps hearing as of their recent origins is only partially true -- for the problems have lingered on with nobody wanting to resolve them or even if wanting to resolve them failing to make much head way. It is frustrating to know that many of the problems regarding institutions and attitudes have not changed a bit. The arbitrary removals of people in important position like that of Shakir Ali, Hamid Ahmed Khan and Dr Nazir Ahmed became the issues that he thought were important enough to make a noise about; the reaction to Ghulam Abbas’ story 'Dhanak" in the Halqa-e-Arbab-e-Zauq and the debates from fixed position that went on, the warm welcome a poet receives when visiting another city like Josh did, the role a painter is supposed to play in reference to Sadeqain, and the intense divide that characterisd social, political and intellectual life between the right and left during the better part of the period since independence. But then there is also a change that takes place during this period. Probably the intense debate between left and right replaced by other ideological divides along with a steady growth in apathy and indifference. Since Intizar Hussain was not writing about the political manners, the catastrophic events of 1970s only find a reference indirectly through the resolve of the people to rebuild Pakistan followed by subsequent shattering of the dream. The last column is about 'Dastaan-e-Amir Hamza’, the role of the printing presses all over the subcontinent and the significance of keeping alive and in circulation our classical literature. The book aptly chronicles the cultural life of Pakistani society spread well over the last 40 years.
The brightest jewels Part II Sophocles lived to a ripe old age of 90 and wrote as many plays, if not more... We now know that he wrote at least a hundred plays of which only seven of his tragedies are extant. He made several innovations in dramaturgy. He reduced the chorus to a minimum. His chorus became primarily a group of spectators who follow the dramatic action closely, react to it emotionally, and comment on it without losing themselves in irrelevant generalisations. Another important step he took was to abolish the trilogic form. Aeschylus used three tragedies to tell a story; Sophocles used only one play for each plot and packed all his action into it. He did not embellish his plays with irrelevant lyricism. He employed tragic irony with a greater skill than his predecessors. The secret of Sophocles’ triumph as a dramatist is that he learned to understand the nature of his medium more clearly than any other Greek dramatist. Let us just take a look at two of his plays: 'Antigone’ and 'Oedipus the King’. The basic conflict of Antigone is between the claims of the state and the individual conscience. It is amazing how superbly he tackled such a contemporary theme two thousand five hundred years ago. The woman, Antigone, defends the family and the man, Creon (the king) supports the state. The fundamental question is how to mediate between these principles and avoid catastrophe to either the group or the individual. The tragedy begins with a rush when Antigone enters the stage with a passionate speech expressing her intention to bury her brother despite the edict that forbids it. After a quarrel with her timid sister she hurries away to pay him this last honour. She is caught by a guard and is brought before the king. Antigone does not quail before Creon, the new ruler of Thebes. She defies him. His law is not hers. "I was made for love not hate", she exclaims. Creon, "young in authority", will hear nothing in her defence. Even when he is reminded that Antigone is betrothed to his own son, Haemon, he remains adamant. Haemon himself pleads for Antigone in vain. Creon sentences Antigone to be immured in a cave and left to die. (Nearly 2000 years later Akbar would pronounce a similar sentence on Anarkali). Antigone remains unrepentant. She bewails her fate and recalls the tragic history of her family -- she is the daughter of the unfortunate Oedipus. She is dragged away while the moralising chorus of Theban senators reprove her for her daring. The senators are on the side of the implacable state. There is a sudden reversal of situation when Tiresias, the blind seer, arrives to admonish Creon for desecrating the body of Antigone’s brother and to warn him that he will be punished by the gods. Creon stubbornly accuses him of having been bribed and sends him away scornfully. But he becomes troubled by Creon’s prophesy. It is bitter to submit, he declares, but submit he will, and he gives orders to release the girl. Anxiety seizes him as he fears he may be too late and his forebodings are justified when a messenger brings him the report that Antigone hanged herself rather than await a slow death, and that Haemon, Creon’s son, having found her dead, stabbed himself. When the news reaches Creon’s wife that she has lost her only son, she kills herself, too. Creon is heart-broken and can hardly find any consolation in the platitudes uttered by the senators. It is the superb craftsmanship of Sophocles that he does not weigh the drama in favour of his heroine, for he recognizes the right of the state and of public interest. Creon has to make a public example of the prince (Antigone’s brother) who brought an armed force against his own city. No matter how great a provocation, the prince should not have invaded his own country. Antigone’s claims are of piety and love. It is love too that asserts itself in the suicide of her fiancé, Haemon. Haemon’s formal plea for Antigone in which he does not ever mention his love for her is another one of the delicate touches for which Sophocles is famous. A lesser playwright would have been inclined to settle the dispute between the state and the individual conscience. Not Sophocles. He contents himself with the observation that the consequence of the conflict are bound to be tragic. His characterization of Antigone throws the weight of sympathy on the side of Antigone. Like Hamlet, this tragedy holds in solution many problems that do not easily surrender their meaning to the casual observer of the play. Antigone is unquestionably one of the greatest tragedies ever written. The other play, 'Oedipus the king’ too, raises the problem of fate. Oedipus killed his father and married his mother unknowingly. And nobody could prevent the consummation of tragedy. The accident that leads to the tragic events occurs before the opening of the play and Sophocles refuses to rule out the existence of accident in the tragedy. Oedipus is a man of courage, nobility and excellent intentions whose only failing is his inflammable temper. His virtues and defects conspire with fate against him. Had he not been so impetuous he might never have quarrelled with the arrogant old man who affronted him on the highway; had he not been so excitable he would never have killed the stranger who later proved to be his father. Had he not been so quick-witted he might never have answered the riddle of the Sphinx. When the play begins, the same admirable elements of his character conspire to open his eyes to his horrible deed. He is so resolute in ferreting out the person who is polluting the city with a secret crime that he discovers the guilt of patricide and incest in his own life. A less determined individual might never have pushed matters so far. And a less temperamental person would never have blinded his eyes in horror and so added to his suffering. What Sophocles tells us in that fate works through the character of the victim. He portrays Oedipus as one who is not morally, but psychologically, responsible for his suffering. Oedipus, who is one of the great tragic figures of literature, is a superb, active personality. Sophocles could never have woven a great tragedy around a feeble, passive victim. 'Oedipus the King’ provides overwhelming drama. The play is a marvel of suspense, pace and mounting excitement. The experience provided by this play has no parallel in the theatre except in Shakespeare’s 'King Lear’. It is one of the most incongruous characteristics of our age that we cannot discuss the tragedy of Oedipus without making references to the highly controversial interpretation imposed upon the legend by Sigmund Freud.
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