Magical Realism In Bano Qudsia’s Novel Raja Gidh

Abstract

Most Pakistani Urdu writers are unknown in the main stream of world literature due to lack of translations. Bano Qudsia is among them. Her works raise national and international issues including man’s quest for power which causes destruction not only of his fellow beings but also of other inhabitants of the earth. This papers intends to highlight Qudsia’s contributions in world literature. She constructs her narrative by using the techniques of magical realism in her magnum opus Raja Gidh. Magical realism comprises of a highly detailed and a realistic setting. It is intended as something very strange to be believed (Strecher 267). The main plot of Bano Qudsia’s novel Raja Gidh is about human’s ordinary life and love but its sub-plot, which is the major subject of this study, constitutes a strange birds’ kingdom where birds have their concerns and worries for their survival. This sub-plot of the novel reveals the bitter truth of human beings’ intentions that even affect the birds and their kingdom especially the vultures’ king, Raja Gidh who becomes made, the earth and all its creatures saw dooms day during World Wars. It all happened due to human’s exercise of atomic power. Bano Qudsia narrates such a scenario by using techniques of magical realism and presents pictures of an imagined pre and post-apocalyptic world.