KARACHI: The fourth day of the 10th International Urdu Conference on Sunday began with a session on Urdu fiction writing.

Zaib Azkaar Hussain read out a paper on the political dimensions of post-independence political f acets of short story. He started his arguments with Sadat Hasan Manto. He said Manto`s writings were of ten seen in light of his stories` sexual content, but the politico-cultural aspect of his writings was extremely significant. He went on to mention many names of writers from the time of independence to present-day, suggesting though it needed to improve on some aspects, fiction was alive and kicking.

Akhlag Ahmed first remarked about the different experiments that Pakistani society went through in 70 years and then traced various stages of short story: tales written about partition, written about effects of partition, symbolist writings during dictatorial tenures and abstract writings.

Asif Farrukhi spoke on the Urdu novel with respect to the behavioural patterns in society.

He said a century back D. H.

Lawrence had called the novel a genre that had `man alive` in it.

We needed to move beyond that vision and put things in the contemporary context. He also mentioned Orhan Pamuk and claimed that the novel had progressed so f ar ahead that now it was the dominant literary genre. This led him to shed light on a number of modern-day Urdu fictionists whose works needed special attention and acknowledgment.

M. Hameed Shahid pointed out three words -independence, society and Urdu fiction highlighted in the conference`s programme.

He raised the question whether our society and individuals had changed afterindependence.

Anis Ashfaq quoted Intizar Husain in support of his argu-KARACHI: The fourth day of the 10th International Urdu Conference on Sunday began with a session on Urdu fiction writing.

Zaib Azkaar Hussain read out a paper on the political dimensions of post-independence political f acets of short story. He started his arguments with Sadat Hasan Manto. He said Manto`s writings were of ten seen in light of his stories` sexual content, but the politico-cultural aspect of his writings was extremely significant. He went on to mention many names of writers from the time of independence to present-day, suggesting though it needed to improve on some aspects, fiction was alive and kicking.

Akhlag Ahmed first remarked about the different experiments that Pakistani society went through in 70 years and then traced various stages of short story: tales written about partition, written about effects of partition, symbolist writings during dictatorial tenures and abstract writings.

Asif Farrukhi spoke on the Urdu novel with respect to the behavioural patterns in society.

He said a century back D. H.

Lawrence had called the novel a genre that had `man alive` in it.

We needed to move beyond that vision and put things in the contemporary context. He also mentioned Orhan Pamuk and claimed that the novel had progressed so f ar ahead that now it was the dominant literary genre. This led him to shed light on a number of modern-day Urdu fictionists whose works needed special attention and acknowledgment.

M. Hameed Shahid pointed out three words -independence, society and Urdu fiction highlighted in the conference`s programme.

He raised the question whether our society and individuals had changed afterindependence.

Anis Ashfaq quoted Intizar Husain in support of his argu-ment: one of the problems with our contemporary short story and novel was that it had taken a shine to intellectually driven narrative (danishwarana izhar). It initially manifested itself when abstraction came into our expression. It was the time when [reading] Jean Paul Sartre became fashionable.

Ashfaq argued that the real question was how to incorporate intellect and history into fiction.

Zahida Hina lauded the speakers for not only discussing the history of fiction, but also its geography.

Qazi Afzal Hussain said the papers read on the topic had compelled us to revisit Urdu fiction.

Masood Ashar said we were going through a time in which our society was increasingly becoming narrow-minded. We were living in the post-truth era.

Hasan Manzar said it was history that had provided the novel with its material.

Asad Mohammed Khan said in one way the creative process entailed all of that which we saw from the moment we [humanment: one of the problems with our contemporary short story and novel was that it had taken a shine to intellectually driven narrative (danishwarana izhar). It initially manifested itself when abstraction came into our expression. It was the time when [reading] Jean Paul Sartre became fashionable.

Ashfaq argued that the real question was how to incorporate intellect and history into fiction.

Zahida Hina lauded the speakers for not only discussing the history of fiction, but also its geography.

Qazi Afzal Hussain said the papers read on the topic had compelled us to revisit Urdu fiction.

Masood Ashar said we were going through a time in which our society was increasingly becoming narrow-minded. We were living in the post-truth era.

Hasan Manzar said it was history that had provided the novel with its material.

Asad Mohammed Khan said in one way the creative process entailed all of that which we saw from the moment we [humanment: one of the problems with our contemporary short story and novel was that it had taken a shine to intellectually driven narrative (danishwarana izhar). It initially manifested itself when abstraction came into our expression. It was the time when [reading] Jean Paul Sartre became fashionable.

Ashfaq argued that the real question was how to incorporate intellect and history into fiction.

Zahida Hina lauded the speakers for not only discussing the history of fiction, but also its geography.

Qazi Afzal Hussain said the papers read on the topic had compelled us to revisit Urdu fiction.

Masood Ashar said we were going through a time in which our society was increasingly becoming narrow-minded. We were living in the post-truth era.

Hasan Manzar said it was history that had provided the novel with its material.

Asad Mohammed Khan said in one way the creative process entailed all of that which we saw from the moment we [humanbeings] gained consciousness. It enabled us to understandlife.

Neelam Bashir and Mirza Hamid Baig also spoke.

Film and music Two post-lunch sessions on film and music generated interesting debates, involving showbiz glitterati such as Syed Noor, M Qavi Khan, Nabeel Qureshi, Fizza Ali Meerza, Arshad Mahmud, Emu, Malahat Awan and Hamid Ali Khan.

The session on film moderated by Kashif Grami had an interesting moment when Syed Noor opposed the screening of Indian films in Pakistan whereas Nabeel Qureshi did not.

Conversation with If tikhar Arif But in literary terms the most exciting session was a conversation with poet Iftikhar Arif moderated by Wusutullah Khan. Arif went down memory lane sharing his thoughts about the iconic singer Noor Jehan who had f amously sungone of his ghazals. He said once when he and his colleagues were trying to put together a programme on Ghalib, Noor Jehan said to him that she could sweep the floor of Ghalib`s house. To which Arif replied to her that she would have swept (read: lef t in ruins) his whole house (uss ke ghar pe jharu pher deteen).

Arif said coming from Lucknow he began writing poetry at an early age. When he was very young his maternal grandfather used to take him to mehfil-i-sama`a at a dargah, which inculcated in him the sense of rhythm. He added he seldom consulted prosody books. Af ter the brief chitchat Arif was requested to read his nazms and ghazals. It was interesting to see that the audience knew many of his verses by heart. One of the verses was: Yeh merey dushman yunhi to paspa nahin huay hain Koi to hai le raha hai intigaam mera [There`s a reason my foes have tasted defeat Someone is taking revenge on my behalf]one of his ghazals. He said once when he and his colleagues were trying to put together a programme on Ghalib, Noor Jehan said to him that she could sweep the floor of Ghalib`s house. To which Arif replied to her that she would have swept (read: lef t in ruins) his whole house (uss ke ghar pe jharu pher deteen).

Arif said coming from Lucknow he began writing poetry at an early age. When he was very young his maternal grandfather used to take him to mehfil-i-sama`a at a dargah, which inculcated in him the sense of rhythm. He added he seldom consulted prosody books. Af ter the brief chitchat Arif was requested to read his nazms and ghazals. It was interesting to see that the audience knew many of his verses by heart. One of the verses was: Yeh merey dushman yunhi to paspa nahin huay hain Koi to hai le raha hai intigaam mera [There`s a reason my foes have tasted defeat Someone is taking revenge on my behalf]