Responsibility, Commitment and Imagination: Glocalist Abrogation of Generic Structures in Aatir’s Straggling through Fire: An Anthology of Proemistry

Abstract

This paper explores the nationalistic abrogation of generic structures in Ghulam Murtaza Aatir’s Straggling through Fire: An Anthology of Proemistry and establishes that institutionalized conceptualizations of literature are discursive mechanisms which tend to legitimize the authority of power elite. Aatir coins the term ‘proemistry’, explains his artistic standpoint in his prefaces and composes forty-two proems to question, resist and finally reject Eurocentric claims of romanticism, objectivity, universality and aesthetic pleasure. This paper studies Aatir’s ‘proems’ in the light of his literary conceptions provided in form of two prefaces, explores the rejection of western models of representation, objectivity and universality and validates that art is never apolitical; it can address immediate social, cultural and political crises. The text gives the evidence that instead of portraying flamboyant landscapes or indulging into romanticized abstractions, Aatir’s art is packed with concrete images and juxtapositions between the powerful and the powerless. His stance is clear and he stands with the marginalized sections of Pakistan in particular and with the oppressed of the world in general. Without compromising his identity, his art extends its spectrum to the historical issues of the world and he appears as a glocal writer looking at the world from national platform.