ABSTRACT
The timeless way of life, which existed in the rural and tribal areas of the region which now constitutes Pakistan, was confronted by the exigencies of colonial rule and after 1947 by that of the newly independent Pakistan as a nation-state. The state's new industrialization policies, the imposition of borders and boundaries between Pakistan and its neighbors, and more recently the rise of militant Islam have all played a role in changing or disrupting the cultural dynamics of traditional societies. This chapter explores these changes as portrayed in six Pakistani English novels written between 1967-2013. In 1980 Bapsi Sidhwa became the first Pakistan-resident English language writer to receive international acclaim with the British publication of her novel The Crow Eaters, which is about the Parsee community to which she belonged. Jamil Ahmad's collection of interconnected stories, The Wandering Falcon, is the first work of fiction in Pakistani English literature to describe tribal life in the border areas of Pakistan.
