Abstract
This dissertation examines the trajectory of the Urdu lyric (the ghazal) in its enfoldment with the"Indo-Muslim" through a series of historical and literary-critical constellations. It begins with the critique of the ghazal in the wake of the Great Rebellion of 1857 by colonial officials and reformist North Indo-Muslim elites illuminating the displinary violence of this moment. It then turns to the defense of the lyric as metonymic of Indo-Muslim heritage as nationalism comes into its own in the early 20th century showing the limits of the apologia under the imperatives of nationalism and historical progress. With the arrival on the scene of literary modernism and Pakistani nationalism, the dissertation follows the new set of demands made on the lyric as it traverses the literary-critical oeuvre of the influential writer, Muhammad Hasan Askari. Finally, it examines the melancholic, mournful and nostalgic fate of lyric consciousness in the work of Intizar Husain and his circle of Pakistani literati with the devastation of Partition and the eventual post-colonial disenchantment with Pakistani nationalism.
