A Heteroglot Narrative in Fawzia Afzal Khan’s Lahore with Love

Abstract

This research has analyzed Fawzia Afzal-Khan’s Lahore with Love as a heteroglot text, in the light of Bakhtin’s theoretical framework (Discourse in the Novel). This research will present a new aspect of study in Afzal-Khan’s Lahore with Love. The purpose of this present research will be to identify the use of multi-narratives to underscore the thematic concerns, which are the current socio-political issues of Pakistan’s social fabric. The personal, the feminist, the socio-political and the post-colonial narratives are inter-knitted to capture the complexities of issues in our society. This research has also focused on the use of the multi-genre and multi-voices to generate the heteroglotic form of the Memoir. The outcome of this research safely establishes a definite heteroglotic incline in the primary text, as defined by Bakhtin. However, the scope of this research is how Afzal-Khan both employs and experiments with this literary genre to contest to the stereo-type representations of Pakistani society and its women. The use of multi-perspectives encourages to opt for a dialogic space, for the conflicting consciousness to engage in a dialogue and negotiate for a more accommodating vision. The critics have identified various aspects of the Memoir but this angle of her work has remained unnoticed.