Sadiyon Ki Zanjeer
 
   
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Razia Fasih Ahmad is an important name in Urdu fiction. Her new novel "Sadiyon Ki Zanjeer (Chained Centuries)" presents external realities through strong internal emotions. Just as the two World Wars left legacies of their own in world literature, this novel creates a legacy based on the human tragedy of the political clash of East and West Pakistan which resulted in the break-up of Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh. This tragedy has been presented here not only with heart-felt emotion and great empathy, but the writer has also tried to create a wider canvas by looking at the big picture. She describes a full spectrum of people, the ones with mal-formed ideas to the desperately poor, from the stupidity, social injustice and lack of vision in groups of one people to the hypocrisy of other groups who blame everybody but themselves and who not only are the purveyors of pain and suffering but are often also its recipient.

In this novel, Razia Fasih Ahmad has presented, both the individual actions that effect other peoples' lives and group actions that result in death, devastation and grief, as a sociological experiment.

"Sadiyon Ki Zanjeer" is noticeably daring in its insights and its presentation. An amalgam of reality and perception is created by the description of events and the details of the characters. It ties the present with the future in a continuum. And that makes "Sadiyon Ki Zanjeer" a novel of interesting forms and alluring ideas which is deserving of attention.

Dr. Hanif Fouq
(Translated from the Jacket Cover)
 
     
       
    Copyright © 2004 Razia Fasih Ahmad