Llocs/ Lugares/ Places: dialogues with british writers

Although he has lived much of his life in England, Pakistan is the land that nourishes Nadeem Aslam’s literary imagination. Hence, and perhaps because “History is the third parent”, which is the opening line of his latest novel, Aslam’s writing is an in-depth exploration of both his cultural heritage, its richness and its contradictions and also the social, political and religious conflicts of Pakistan today, inside and outside its borders. Few writers have portrayed as Aslam has done how the world has changed after 11 September; how cut off Pakistani communities are from the outside world, and how trapped they are by prejudice, intrigue, racism and fear; the mismatch of interpretations between East and West and between religion and secular modernity; the impact of war on individuals; the quicksands of contemporary Islam; and the assaults of new forms of imperialism.

Related to Kosmopolis 2013, Kosmopolis

4 November 2013