An Anthology of Comparative Literature

Author: Aleena Shafqat. Different variants of Cinderella have been produced by various writers belonging to diverse cultures and periods. In this essay, I have selected versions of Cinderella from different historical eras in which tales reflect their respective societies and cultures out of which they arise. The versions selected here are: “ The Golden Sandal: A Middle Eastern Cinderella Story (1998)” retold by Rebecca Hickox from “ The Little Red Fish and the Clog of Gold”, Charles Perrault’s  “Cendrillon” and Marie Catherine d’Aulnoy’s “Finette Cendron”   both written in late 17 th century by French writers. “The Golden Sandal: A Middle Eastern Cinderella Story” comes from Iraq. As the story is set in Iraq so the name of Cinderella here is Maha rather than any other name. Apart from names, this version has a cruel stepmother and stepsisters who are always ruthless and pitiless as observed in other versions of Cinderella. In the Middle Eastern version, the st...

Author: Anmol Saeed Awan. Comparative literature has perplexed its readers about its past, present and future altogether throughout its history. With the evolution of world into advanced technology, comparative literature is now confused with globalization. Some people think that globalization is inopportune for comparative literature and precarious for its future. While some believe in the profitability of globalization to comparative literature, I am also a proponent of this view. For it is through globalization that we come to know the history of literature, our history as colonial and orient subjects, epistemic disobedience, and current trends in literary world and so on.             Globalization means the invention of new information and advanced technology, interconnection of different societies, wide spread of social media and so on. With the rise of globalization, everything is changing and so is the case with literature an...

 Author: Aqeela Tahir The DaVinci Code , a “theological thriller” which purports to uncover hidden truths about Christ embedded in Leonardo DaVinci’s paintings, has been a publishing phenomenon since its release in March 2003. Although The DaVinci Code offers a radical view of history that argues for the equality and power of women, at the end of the novel nothing has actually changed. The comparison of this novel by Dan Brown with Ron Howard’s 2006 film adaptation in the light of a feminist analysis of the female protagonist, Sophie Neveu, reveals that the negative stereotypes of women that still exist in current American society, and shows the roles popular media such as literature and film have in both reflecting and perpetuating these beliefs. Laura Mulvey’s psychoanalytical theories of gender and the gaze form the theoretical base for my observations as they are closely related to gender and the detective genre. Historically, in the detective genre, women have been associate...

 Author: Aqsa Fatima. The world is changing rapidly with the influx of technological advancements. Where these advancements are assisting humanity in a variety of ways, they are also becoming a leading cause of the obliteration of the natural environment. The Dystopian genre within literature and other art forms give an indication of such potentially devastating impacts of technological advancements thereby warning humanity of the atrocious future that awaits them. In the words of Keith Booker “dystopian literature is specifically that literature which situates itself in direct opposition to utopian thought, warning against the potential negative consequence of arrant utopianism [emerging as a result of technological advancements]” ( Dystopian Literature 3). Building my argument upon the foundation laid by Booker, I aim to extend the definition of dystopia by establishing that the perception of dystopia among literary geniuses is not monolithic rather it varies across their geogra...

Author:  Ayesha Omar Marghoob. Colonial ideology has always presented the East as the unknown, inconceivable, and irreconcilable other, with pioneer post-colonial theorist Edward Said giving a name to such representation – orientalism. According to Said, orientalism refers to discourse that creates the image of a mysterious and exotic other, fueled by imperialist and colonial matrixes of power. This discourse then, be it political, biological, historical, economic, or literary in nature, becomes the lens through which the West perceives the world around it, particularly the East, and also the lens through which the East at times perceives itself. In response to such discourse, post-colonial theorists and theories begun to emerge, with Rushdie’s iconic term “the empire writes back”, later expanded by Ashcroft et al., becoming the driving force behind post-colonial literature. Thus, native writers started working to correct and recreate their representations and reintroduce themselve...

 Author: Bakhtawer Batool Syed.  Growing up as a girl, I have fantasized fairy tales which transmitted in me the desire of becoming like the protagonist many times. Fairytales have their past in oral literature and present in Disney movies. They have been playing a remarkable role in the formation of identities and cultures. There are so many different aspects of life which are elaborated and spread by this form of literature. These stories propagate and accomplish some economical or socio-political purposes as well. One of the political agendas propagated by some of these stories includes the politics of Black and White.  The rise of desired feelings in the audience can be traced back in Grimm’s intention of constructing a German national identity and cultural consciousness. Jacob Grim once stated this as, “all my work is dedicated to my homeland…our country’s guidance is the most correct”. Similar to identity formation, politics of Black and White, where a few stereotyp...

Author: Habiba Shaukat.  If we think of the climate emergency we’re facing globally as something manageable with a little effort rather than “an enveloping crisis sparing no place and leaving no life un-deformed” we’re mistaken (Wallace-Wells 54). The crisis has only worsened in the recent decades to create a situation where we are “currently adding carbon to the atmosphere at a considerably faster rate; at least ten times faster” (Wallace-Wells 22) . Transportation is currently the biggest source of greenhouse gases in U.S. which is interestingly the second biggest source of greenhouse gases in the  world (Compton 6) . So the climate crisis is a monstrous reality and the environmental degradation is taking place at a much faster pace than we seem “to have the capacity to recognize or acknowledge” (Wallace-Wells 76) Since travelling has a huge role to play in accelerating this climate crisis, travelling seems to be no longer affordable for the planet earth. With an increase ...