A New Historicist Analysis of Bina Shah’s Novel a Season for Martyrs
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Keywords

Society, History, Saint, Martyr, British, Sindh.

Abstract

This study is conducted to analyze the novel Bina Shah’ novel A Season for Martyrs, from the perspective of New Historicism. This novel presents history of Sindh blended with fiction. It highlights the main Historical events of Sindh; from the arrival of the British in 1827 and occupation of Sindh by Charles Napier till the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in present century. Shah has narrated the history to show its link with the present political and social situation of Sindh. The novel has focused social and political discourses of Sindhi society such as: Significance of love with the land and people’ faith in mystics. The novel has narrated various myths and tales about famous mystics belonging to Sindh. The novel presents story of Ali, a young media reporter, who faces identity problem because of social and psychological issues but when he realizes that his land needs his services, he becomes political activist. This study analyses historical facts and some social and political discourses presented in the novel. Effort is done to interpret the novel according to the theory. Cultural context and social environment of the author is analyzed by observing facts from her social and personal life. Social and political situation of present era are discussed to find the impact of present situation on the interpretation of the author.

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