LAHORE: (Thursday, February 22, 2018): Punjab University Pakistan Study Center has organized a special lecture on “Nation, Narration, Borders: Representing National Identity in Pakistani Anglophone Literature”. University of Naples “L’Orientale, Italy Dr. Daniela Vitolo, Dean, Faculty of Arts & Humanities Prof Dr Muhammad Iqbal Chawla, Incharge PSC Dr. Rukhsana Iftikhar, Dr. Ahmad Ejaz, Dr. Amjad Abbas Khan, Prof. Syed Qamar Abbas, Dr. Mahboob Hussain, Dr. Faraz Anjum, Dr. Maqbool Awan, Dr. Naumana Kiran, Dr. Robina, Mrs. Bushra Shokat and Syed Karim Haider and research scholars were present on the occasion.

In her address, Dr. Daniela was of the view that one of the main features defining Pakistani Anglophone Literature is that it tends to bring into conversation the local and the global. She said the authors, who used to live between Pakistan and the West, share a cosmopolitan background and a deep knowledge of different societies and cultures while they write for Pakistani readers as well as for a global audience. She said that constantly concerned with political and social issues Pakistani Anglophone writers frequently seem to invite their readers to reflect on the ways in which social and political dynamics affect the construction of communitarianism and personal identities. She said if their approach to such issues is rooted within a Pakistani dimension, it also adopts a perspective that goes beyond national boundaries. Consequently, it is not rare for the protagonists of novels and short stories to move across borders – concrete as well as symbolic. Prof. Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Chawala shed the light on the topic and shared his expert views.