ompiling a literary anthology isn’t easy.It requires a degree of discernment. Much like a curator entrusted with the task of organising a group art exhibition, the editors of these compendiums must sift through reams of writing and carefully select suitable texts. The selection criteria may vary according to practical and thematic considerations, but the final product must be a cohesive, representative whole.

In the introduction to her latest compilation In the New Century: An Anthology of Pakistani Literature in English, writer and critic Muneeza Shamsie shows considerable awareness of how to preserve the essence of literary anthologies. Echoing the views of academic Neelam Srivastava, she acknowledges that anthologies not only seek to assemble a rich array of texts, but also provide a “critical apparatus to explain and contextualise them.”

New Century is Shamsie’s fourth literary anthology,admittedly a “follow-up” to her first compendium A Dragonfly in the Sun (1997). Her debut anthology included Anglophone writing penned from the country’s birth to its Golden Jubilee in 1997. Shamsie’s new anthology is a spiritual sequel to Dragonfly as it comprises prose and poetry by noted writers who were actively pursuing the ink-and-paper route between 1998 and 2017. New Century commemorates Pakistan’s Platinum Jubilee, even though it has been published eight years later.

During this period, Pakistani literature in English has emerged as a force to be reckoned withand acquired new relevance in global Anglophone literature. Over the last two decades, a heady mix of diasporic literature and home-grown narratives has assumed centre-stage. New Century assembles excerpts from some of these novels, short story and poetry collections and memoirs. The purpose is to preserve these writings for posterity and possibly canonise them as valuable literary texts that deserve to be read by students and academics. Above all, the anthology provides readers with a flavour of the country’s rich, ever-evolving literary culture.

Shamsie’s new compilation offers a richer variety of texts than Dragonfly, possibly due to the “growing…productivity and publishing opportunities in Pakistani English literature in the new millennium.” While Dragonfly included only 42 writers, New Century is a weightier volume featuring 86 creative voices. However, the editor has avowedly been far more selective with her latest anthology. Many of the featured writers have published at least one full-length book between 1998 and 2017 - a criterion that wasn’t applied to selectpieces for Dragonfly.

Owing to its limited temporal scope, New Century doesn’t acknowledge the contributions of newer creative voices. This shouldn’t be construed as a weakness because Shamsie describes this anthology as a “retrospective” rather than a glimpse into the current literary trends. She approaches this project through the lens of a literary historian, who has penned Hybrid Tapestries: The Development of Pakistani Literature in English. Therefore, Shamsie’s new anthology — much like her previous ones — is aligned closely with her efforts to chronicle the evolution of Pakistani Anglophone writing. Readers are advised against viewing New Century as yet another paean to the proverbial ‘old guard.’.Shamsie has made a concerted effort to include the work of some newcreative voices, such as Sarvat Hasin, Osama Siddique and Shazaf Fatima Haider.

New Century commemorates Pakistan’s Platinum Jubilee, even though it has been published eight years later. 

More often than not, anthologists are guilty of performing a shoddy cut-and-paste job that lacks an astute curatorial judgment. Mercifully, New Centuryescapes this fate. The excerpts included from published novels, poetry and short story collections and memoirs haven’t been chosen arbitrarily. Some of the extracts direct academics as well as general readers towards crucial themes about the texts from which they have been taken. For instance, the decision to include an excerpt featuring Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai from Bina Shah’s A Season for Martyrs reveals how the author has skillfully evoked Sindh’s history. Similarly, the poems selected from poet Hima Raza’s oeuvre deal with the distinctly bilingual thrust of her work.

A quick glance at the contents section reveals that the anthology includes some of the ‘usual suspects.’ Many have gained prominence in Pakistan’s literary mainstream. Be that as it may, Shamsie steers clear of the predictable and the mundane. Many readers may be pleased to discover that the section on Bapsi Sidhwa doesn’t include an excerpt from The Ice-Candy Man. Instead, Shamsie surprises readers by including a memoir by Sidhwa about how her celebrated novel was adapted for the screen by Deepa Mehta. Sidhwa describes Earth as a “riveting, almost mystical” film based on The Ice-Candy Man and admits that she can “no longer dispassionately assess it.”

A similar effect is achieved when Shamsie includes a memoir on the power of silence in Sorayya Khan’s Noor instead of an extract from the novel. Shahbano Bilgrami, who has penned two critically acclaimed novels, is also seen in the avatar of a memoirist. Her piece explores her journey to Montreal, the “now-foreign city” where her mother is buried. These essays present these authors in a different creative avatar.

The great strength of New Century lies in its ability to showcase some fascinating specimens of life-writing, especially from noted playwrights of Pakistani origin. In East is East: The Play I Almost Didn’t Write, screenwriter and actor Ayub Khan Din examines his initial motivations for putting pen to paper. Rukhsana Ahmed examines how drama morphs “pure text into performance” and makes every word seek “justification” for its existence.

The memoirs included in this anthology do not follow a specific format. Nazneen Sheikh writes with candour about her marriage to a man who “walked into [her] dream.” Aquila Ismail’s poignant creative nonfiction piece chronicles the last day in the life of her sister, the slain activist PerweenRehman. The excerpt from Durdana Soomro and Ghazala Hameed’s fictionalised memoir, Bengal Raag, offers a fact-driven yet compelling account of the 1958 coup.

Poetry, once the crowning glory of Pakistani literature, also appears in abundance in New Century. Shamsie ought to be commended for featuring works by new poetic voices, such as Peerzada Salman and Raza Ali Hasan. Their inclusion serves as welcome proof that the poetry remains alive.

A noble creative endeavour, New Century is an encouraging reminder that Pakistani Anglophone literature is soaring to new, unimagined heights.

In the New Century

An Anthology of Pakistani Literature in English

Author:

Muneeza Shamsie (ed)

Publisher: Oxford

University Press Pakistan

Pages: 566

The reviewer is a freelance journalist and the author of  No Funeral for Nazia