ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of fictional works by South Asian writers in English from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh suggesting that fiction can represent current anxieties about oppression and inequality in the authors' respective societies. The South Asian fictional imaginations have been reshaped by not only post-Cold War historical and cultural changes but also by rapid changes in the economy and politics. One of the most persistent concerns of South Asian literature from India and Pakistan is the 1947 Partition violence as well as the violence perpetuated afterwards. The literary texts by South Asian fiction writers in English hold a paradigmatic value to examine the representation of political violence in South Asia, as the durations of these stories span several decades and address the genealogy of social unrest in one form or another. South Asian fiction, particularly novels from Afghanistan and Pakistan, rose to prominence on the global literary map after the 9/11 attack in 2001.
