Urdu Novel and Social Structure of the Future

Abstract

The beginnings of futurism in Urdu literature can be traced back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when stories like Ruqia Sakhawat Hussain's "Sultana Ka Khaab" and Shaukat Thanvi's "Marikh Ki Seer" emerged. To understand the social structure of the future, it is essential to understand two basic intellectual attitudes, namely utopia and dystopia. Utopia is the concept of an ideal, balanced, and peaceful society where injustice, poverty, and gender discrimination have been eliminated. In contrast, dystopia is the antithesis of a world dominated by chaos, despair, social violence, and decline. Although these terms originated in the Western intellectual tradition, Urdu novelists have adapted these concepts in the light of local society. In the tradition of Urdu fiction, while novels like “Marikh Ki Seer” and Ruqia Sakhawat Hussain’s “Sultana Ka Khaab” offer glimpses of a utopian society (where women rule and peaceful scientific progress are idealized), the future structure presented by modern-day novelists is largely dystopian (dark and oppressive). Shaukat Siddiqui’s novels “Khuda Ki Basti” and “Janglos” are the worst examples of economic oppression and political imbalance.