ABSTRACT
Different genres of Pakistani fiction in English show fixation on power politics where issues of terrorism, media representation of reality, and the conflict between the forces of conservatism and modernity are addressed.
Whereas Maha Khan Phillips’ first novel, Beautiful from this Angle, set in Pakistan, and written in a realistic mode, is basically concerned with the world of media, the second novel, The Curse of Mohenjo Daro, flirting with realistic-fantastic-thriller modes, takes up issues of history and historiography. However, at the deeper level both the novels address question of power, exploring its functioning in both ancient and contemporary times. Both novels take up the role of media in the world and the class conflict in Pakistani society. The political status of Beautiful from This Angle (2010), which reads like a popular thriller, is derived from its characters’ consciousness about living in post 9/11 world. The Curse of Mohenjo Daro, also a thriller, is saved from becoming formulaic by its imaginative use of history and archaeology and its attention to some contemporary concerns about the functioning of power and people’s gullibility to succumb to power easily.
