مستنصر حسین تارڑ کا ناول "اے غزالِ شب": مارکسیت سے وجودیت تک: Mustansar Hussain Tarar’s Novel ‘Ay Ghazaal-I Shab’: From Marxism to Existentialism

Abstract

  Urdu Novel has a realist thematic foundation based on societal reforms which was further strengthened during the heyday of Marxism, consequently, a whole lot of Urdu Fiction is based on social motifs. Mustansar Hussain Tarar (b:1939) is widely famous for his Travelogues, but apart from being an acclaimed Dramatist and Columnist, he is also a renowned Urdu Novelist and his Novels explore a whole range of themes involving issues of broader contemporary relevance and beyond. In this context, Tarar’s novel Ay Ghazaal-i Shab (2010) depicts the story of several ideologically motivated Marxist Asian immigrants, trying to cope with the harsh realities of living abroad in Eastern Europe. These revolutionary immigrants not only bore the brutalities of the Bolshevik version of Communism, but also witnessed the shattering of the most optimistic and incredible dream of the 20^th century, in the form of the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1992, and as a result, the emergence of the Russian Federation from its ashes. Amid this chaos, the characters of this novel find themselves completely disenchanted from their ideals related to class abolishment and Internationalism, they are entangled in homesickness due to racial discrimination in Eastern Europe and can be seen all over the place, trying to figure their way out to extract at least some meaning from their existence in an abyss of nothingness. Tarar has skillfully delineated this ideological rift in his masterpiece. This article will ponder this paradigm shift in light of Tarar’s aforementioned Novel.