The portrayal of Political Violence in Harris Khalique's No Fortunes to Tell

Abstract

This paper studies political violence and the acts of terror in the Pakistani society as presented in Harris Khalique’s No Fortunes to Tell. Khalique resists religious extremism, violence and terrorist attacks and focuses on the socio-political crisis in Pakistan. Greenblatt's philosophy of new historic-ism and his concepts of resonance and wonder are the guiding threads for the study of the selected text. Following the new historicists' concept that a literary text is the product of time, place and circumstances, and social constructions shape the artistic representations which have power to alter and resist them as well. This study explores violence and terrorist attacks, particularly in Waziristan,Swat and other parts of Pakistan during the previous two decades and highlights Khalique’s portrayal of the violation of basic human rights by the Talibans’ use of force on the one hand and the conflicts between state and non-state actors on the other