Feminist movement and Urdu literature

- By Zamir Ali Badaiyuni

Feminist consciousness is emerging as a spirit of the age and has become a global trend. No doubt, in the beginning it was an individual trend, but it has now become a movement or school-of-thought popular among the writers of modern sensibility. By feminist consciousness, we mean an awareness of modern movement in this male-governed society where all values are male-oriented. However, at present, women don’t allow the continuation of the male-governed system of values. Women are as free and independent as men, and this new cultural trend is becoming a philosophical standpoint of women. 

Feminist thinkers have been divided into two parts; one is the Anglo-American woman thinker who regards women as creative and equal contributors of values. The other thinkers belong to the French tradition and are radical and revolutionary in their approach and style of thinking. According to them, writing is an independent mental activity and male critics cannot discover the reality of the women’s world. Gynocriticism is an entirely original and absolutely independent mental activity. 

The feminist movement was initiated in the western world and at present, the entire cultural world seems to be in its grip or trend of thought. English novelist, Virginia Woolfe, was not the first writer of the feminist novel. Earlier, Henrick Ibsen, the well-known playwright, wrote A Doll’s House in which Dora was presented as bewildered, hurt and victimized by the male attitude. Recently, the DHA College for Women staged the play successfully. It was produced by Seema Afridi for the benefit of the students of English literature. It is regarded as the first feminist play written by Henrick Ibsen. 

Virginia Woolf in her well-known writing, A Room Of One’s Own, presented feminist consciousness initially, that is a historical document. French feminist novelist and thinker, Simon de Beauvoir and her philosophical treatise entitled The Second Sex, is regarded as the first great achievement by women writers. It is a philosophical work explaining the situation in which a woman does not enjoy independent status and is thus deprived of the right to think, feel and express independently. Moreover, she explains the complicated phenomenon of ‘bad faith’ as presented by Jean Paul Sartre in his monumental work, Being And Nothingness. 

At present, Julia Kristeva, Luce Irigaray and Helene Cixous have appeared on the horizon of feminist consciousness. They have extended the area of feminist thinking in the right direction. Julia Kristeva’s work is more philosophical and deals with in-depth feminist problems. She was inspired by Lacan, known as the French Freud. Kristeva’s thesis is a female version of the Lacanian school-of-thought; both are post-Modern thinkers and contributors in feminist philosophical culture. 

The essence of the feminist movement is gynocriticism. The term was coined by Ellen Showalter to describe the writings of women that is novel, poetry, drama, essays, letters and journals edited by women. Gynocritical studies deal with female imagination, feminist language and the experience of women expressed in literature. Julia Kristeva, the author of Language And Desire; Luce Irigaray, author of Speculum Of The Other Woman and Helene Cixous, author of The Newly-Born Woman have discovered new dimensions in the feminist culture. The whole movement of feminism, feminist theory and criticism has been the rediscovery of a hidden tradition of women’s writing and the rediscovery and republication of a number of novels and other works by women. In particular, three publishing houses (Virago, Pandora and the Women’s Press) have played a vital role in the publication of women’s literature, thus popularizing the feminist movement throughout the world. 

Like other parts of the world, educated Pakistani women are also fully aware of their rights and the problems faced by them. Urdu literature is becoming richer by women’s writings and enjoys a certain amount of freedom of expression in this segregated society. The history of women’s writing in Urdu literature is not a recent phenomenon. It started in the poetic compositions of different women — right from Malaya Chanda Bai to recent times. 

Prominent and talented women are responsible for establishing the women’s style of writing and traditions of the female mode of expression, such as Bilquis Jamal, Rabia Pinha, Kaneez Fatima, Safia Shamim Malihabadi and Z.K. Sheen. Recently, Ada Jafri, a prominent poetess, has contributed a lot to women’s literature. Qazi Abdul Ghaffar, in his introduction to Ada Jafri’s collection of verses, particularly mentioned her name in the field of the feminist way of expression. She is a highly-talented and conscious artist, who has popularized female sensibilities by expressing their sentiments and problems. 

Ada was born in a traditional society where women were not allowed to think and express independently, but she was bold enough to express herself without inhibitions. Her individuality is not without social consciousness. She makes herself invisible from the art of poetic construction. Her personality is absent from her poetry. Her early life was spent in jealously-guarded boundaries. Naturally, tradition was ingrained in her personality, but her individual talent could not surrender itself completely and she started taking interest in the rebellious world of modern art. For me, she is a genuinely modern sensibility. This unification of modern and traditional sensibility makes her significant for both the schools of thought. Her emotional depth finds expression in her poetry of unified sensibility. The expressive value of her poetic art makes her a prominent figure in contemporary Urdu literature. But Ada Jafri could not resolve the conflict between tradition and modern sensibilities, and both trends weave themselves into her poetic art. 

Fehmida Riaz is the Farough Farrukh Zad of Urdu poetry. She enjoys more freedom of expression and strongly believes in it. She is a feminist and an activist. Her relationship with society is deep and inspired by the Marxian theory of gender conflict, class conflict and the Freudian view of men and women struggling against the imposed morality of the bourgeois class. She expresses her female sentiments without inhibitions and unnecessary reservations. 

Badan Darida, her collection of verses, is considered a milestone in the development of feminist thought in Urdu poetry. In her other collection of verses, she has gained maturity and a more harmonious mode of expression. The female imagination in Urdu poetry culminates in Fehmida Riyaz. At present, she is the best feminist writer and will be considered a trendsetter in feminist literature. 

Kishwar Naheed is also a devoted feminist writer. The Second Sex by Simon de Beauvoir is a difficult feminist discourse, but Kishwar Naheed has translated it into Urdu and it has been a source of inspiration for feminist writers. Recently, she has edited an anthology of women’s literature, with Khalida Hussain, Asif Furrukhi and Nighat Saleem as co-editors. It was published by the Academy of Letters headed by Iftikhar Arif. The selection made by them lacks some important names in the history of feminism thought, such as Julia Kristeva and Luce Irigaray who are post-Modern thinkers of the movement. 

Kristeva deserves a separate chapter for understanding her philosophical views about womanhood and female language. She is basically a follower of Lacan and his psychoanalytical approach. Mirrorstage and symbolic order are the basic concepts of Kristeva’s school-of-thought. Luce Irigaray is also a post-Modern thinker of the movement and this anthology is neither complete nor comprehensive. I think they have not been deliberately ignored, but because of the limitations of the editorial committee. The selection of literature shows the carelessness of the committee. 

Perveen Shakir is not a well-known prose poem writer. She was basically a ghazal writer. Her work is extraordinary and should have been selected by the committee to represent Perveen’s genuine art. On the contrary, the well-known prose poem writers have been ignored by editors such as Azra Abbas, Fatima Hasan, Shaista Habib, Nasreen Anjum Bhatti, Sara Shagufta, Seema Khan Orakzai and others. 

However, the selection rightly deserves appreciation and I hope the members of the editorial committee will include the forgotten chapters of feminist thought and the Academy of Letters also will pay due attention while making the selection of feminist literature. The gynocritical studies should have been included in the anthology. Recently, Fehmida Riyaz arranged a seminar sponsored by (Women and Development Association) WADA and partly by Amina Syed from Oxford University Press, at a local hotel of Karachi where some important papers were presented by different feminist writers. 

It was a successful seminar and Fatima Hassan acted as a well-prepared compere of the seminar. Fatima Hassan has recently introduced gynocriticism in Urdu literature. She is clearheaded and a well-read writer on feminism. More gynocritical studies will enrich Urdu literature, as gynocriticism is the essence of the feminist movement. 

It is learnt from reliable sources that Fehmida Riyaz is publishing a book on feminism with the collaboration of Fatima Hassan. Let’s hope they will make the selection more carefully and purely on merit, and the ignored chapter of feminist thought by the Academy of Letters will be selected by them for the readers of Urdu Literature. 

Fiction writing is also an important field and feminist writing can be traced in modern Urdu fiction. Ismat Chughtai is the first feminist fiction writer in Urdu. Other important fiction writers include Quratulain Haider, Khalida Hussain, Fatima Hassan, Jillani Bano, Bano Qudsia, Zahida Hina, Mumtaz Shireen, Jameela Hashmi and Azra Abbass. They have enriched Urdu literature with their writings. The name of Quratulain Haider is not comparable with other writers. She is one of the greatest novelists in Urdu and Aag Ka Dariya is a masterpiece of fiction writing. She has written her novel in the technique of stream of consciousness, such as Virginia Woolfe and James Joyce. She has also written short stories such as Sita Haran, Jila Watan and an autobiographical novel, Gardish-i-Rang-i-Chaman, a cultural historical document about changes in history and culture. 

Urdu literature is covering all the aspects of feminist philosophy and it is expected that more writers will emerge on this horizon.