KHULI TARIKH

I congratulate Dr. Hina Jamshed for her highly creative and commendable use of neo-historical methods and techniques for the true and transparent interpretation of Pakistani history as reflected in the short stories, novels and poetry of Pakistani Urdu literature. The result is an insightful and impartial study of our history that will open new avenues of understanding in understanding the dimensions of Pakistan, its people and its ever-changing politics.
Dr. Ishtiaq Ahmed

Contrary to the view of the great exponents of New Critical Theory, this book does not make the unconscious and impersonal motives the last word. It is Hina Jamshed’s own skill that she has unraveled the complex knots of Pakistani history and left it to the reader to decide. In this book, you will read that neo-historicism traces the motives, institutions and forces that exert pressure on the writer's mental life, which influence his writing as a powerful force, for example, family traditions, religious and semi-religious beliefs, culture, customs and traditions, the rigid attitudes of the government of the time, etc. The interesting thing is how all these forces also increase each other's power and consider themselves absolutely unchanging, as if they are the only natural ones, and thus, whoever stands in their way or points them out, they consider him as their enemy.
Dr. Anwar Ahmed

Dr. Hina Jamshed has chosen an important but difficult topic, and the effort, attention and intelligence with which she has done the neo-historical study of Pakistani literature before and after independence are commendable. Her general point of view is progressive, which is also reflected in this study. The important thing is that she does not consider progressivism to be a static ideology. The early twentieth century classics do not insist on the finality of the Marxist concept, which has been severely criticized by the Frankfurt School. In neo-historicism, the concept of society is not economic or class, but they do give importance to the concepts of power (which are of many types), because wherever power exists, society is divided, and each power has its own object. Social and national tragedies are forms of the blind use of power, which Hanajamshed has given special importance to in this simple study, and in them she has discovered new relationships between Urdu literature and our local history. It is hoped that the people of the world will view this work with appreciation.
Dr. Nasir Abbas Nayyar