Lahore University of Management Sciences B. Sc. Honours Autumn…2008 ss 2220 Women Writers in Urdu Literature

Women writers of the subcontinent have struggled through a long period of cultural and social suppression, remaining within the confines of preconceived themes for writing and hiding behind pseudonyms or names of male family members for getting their works published. The history of Urdu Literature goes back about three hundred years or even more, across the Moghul period to the times of Amir Khusrau and even into the Ghaznavid era where earliest signs of a new language and literature can be traced. All through these centuries, women writers do not figure as a source of any particular influence on the literary landscape of the region, although the verse of some women, like Zebunnisa, daughter of Emperor Aurangzeb, has survived, despite a controversy associated with her takhallus. Taking into account the status of women writers in the subcontinent in the past and even as close as the early twentieth century, their acceptance as mainstream writers over a period of just a few decades is no minor event. This course takes into account the emergence of women writers in Urdu Literature, a critique of their selected works and their influence on the collective literary output of the language and the region.

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  creating an awareness about the struggle that women writers went through in order to be accepted in the mainstream
  

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  creating an awareness about the similarities and differences between the sensibilities of male and female writers of this region; how the perception of women writers about their surroundings and about themselves differs from their male counterparts as well as from each other
  

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  creating an awareness about the collective quality of literature created by women, especially in the twentieth century
  

Class Participation: 10%

* Class Tests: 15%

** Group Presentation: 15%

Mid-Term Exam: 25%

Final Exam: 30%

* There will be two announced tests during the quarter. Students may be asked to briefly write response papers based on the assigned reading, at the beginning or end of a session. Marks obtained in these response papers will also be added to Class Tests.

** Group Presentations will be organized according to the number of students in the class. Topics will be given by the instructor before the mid term exam.

1. 
   A historical overview of the role of women writers in literature….. Women
   

1965…Ghazals

compiled by Khalida Husain, Kishwar Naheed and Asif Farrukhi, Islamabad, Pakistan

Academy of Letters, 2002

Dr. Ismet Jameel: Urdu afsana aur aurat: Intekhaab , Khawateen ka aalmi adab,

compiled by Khalida Husain, Kishwar Naheed and Asif Farrukhi, Islamabad, Pakistan

Academy of Letters, 2002

Yasmeen Hameed: Takhleeqi amal aur Urdu shaeri, nisaai tanazur mein: Adabiaat,

Islamabad, Pakistan Academy of Letters, 2007

Zay Khay Sheen

Hijab Imtiaz Ali

Mrs. Abdul Qadir

Ismet Chughtai

Zehra Nigah

Jamila Hashmi

Hajra Masroor

Jeelani Bano

Fahmida Riaz

stories)

Riffat Murtaza

Tasneem Manto
Reading
Altaf Fatima: Taar-e-ankaboot (short story)

Riffat Murtaza: Bunyaad (short story)

Tasneem Manto: Baingan (short story)

13. Zaheda Hina

Umm-e-Ammara

Afzal Toseef


Reading

Zaheda Hina: Raqs-e maqabir (short story)

Umm-e-Ammara: Ba gunaah-e-be-gunaahi (short story)

Afzal Toseef: Pacheeswan ghanta (short story)

14. Perveen Shakir

Shabnum Shakeel

Azra Abbas

Nasreen Anjum Bhatti
Reading
Tanveer Anjum: Shukar guzaar auraton ka tarana… Mein aur Neelofar (poems)

Azra Abbas: Mez par rakhay haath… Eik Khauf (poems)

Nasreen Anjum Bhatti: Meray badan ki banjh mitti…Choohay (poems)

16. Guest Speaker (Women’s contribution to literary criticism)

17. Atiya Syed

Nilofar Iqbal

Neelam Ahmed Bashir

Reading
Atiya Syed: Sabz Andhera (short story)

Nilofar Iqbal: Barf (short story)

Neelam Ahmed Bashir: Lay saans bhi aahista (short story)

18. Shahida Hasan

Ishrat Aafreen

Mansoora Ahmed

Reading
Shahida Hasan: Ghazal, Umr bhar dil ki zameen tar to nahin rakh sakti…Ghazal, Khil

uthi eik ashk say, jal bujhi ik hansi say mein…Khawateen kay aalmi din par (poems)

Ishrat Aafreen: Jahanzaad (poem)

Mansoora Ahmed: Bay anjaam…Lahoo ki daldal…Yahaan say aasmaan dekho (poems)

19/20. Group Presentations:
Research and Presentation on the following topics:

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  Women writers and political themes
  
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  Women writers and social themes
  
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  Women writers and intellectualism
  
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  Women writers as feminists
  
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  Women writers and personal themes
  
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  Women writers and the theme of love
  
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  Women writers looking beyond the feminine or feminist perspective
  
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  Women writers writing about women
  
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  Women writers contributing a new dimension to literature
  
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  Women writers and the literature of resistance
  

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  Jadeed Shaeraat-e-Urdu, nai fikr naye raastay
  
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  Fahmida Riaz, Ahtajaaj ki jigar kharash sada
  
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  Azra Abbas, Nai aurat ki rivaayaton aur baybasi say baghaavat ki juratmandaana misaal
  
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  Kishwar Naheed, Aurat mein ahtajaaj ki nai aawaaz
  
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  Taraqqi pasand Urdu shaeri mein aurat ki haalat aur kaarguzaarian
  

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  Khalida Husain: Zehra Nigah
  
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  Khalida Husain: Fahmida Riaz
  
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  Khalida Husain: Perveen Shakir
  
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  Khalida Husain: Shabnam Shakeel
  
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  Khalida Husain: Shahida Hassan
  
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  Saleem Akhtar: Nasreen Anjum Bhatti
  
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  Saleem Akhtar: Mansoora Ahmed
  
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  Saleem Akhtar: Yasmeen Hameed
  

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  Ada Jaffery ka jahaan-e-shaer
  

……………………………….

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  Cell phones to be switched off and kept in the bags.
  
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  Students walking out of the classroom in the middle of the session to be marked absent.
  
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  Classroom door to be closed five minutes after the session begins.