Authorial Intervention in (Hassan's State of Affairs: Fill…In…The… Blanks) Hassan Ki Suratehal: Khali…Jagahain…Pur…Karo: A Postmodern Study

Abstract

This paper focuses on the authorial intervention technique in postmodern fiction with reference to Urdu novel, Hassan Ki Suratehal: Khali …Jagahain…Pur…Karo (Hassan's State of Affairs: Fill…In…The…Blanks). The paper reviews author's role in different phases, specifically in fictional writings, including the phase of the declaration of the authorial death to subsequent resurrection and then flipflop appearance and disappearance in postmodern fiction. The case of Mirza Athar Baig's authorial intervention has been reviewed through the reading of his Urdu novel. Taking clues from Mark Currie and Peter Damian-Grint's theoretical elucidation and support of the study of Brian McHale on postmodern fiction, Foucauldian and Barthian views about authorial demise and subsequent postmodern resurrection have been analyzed to move further. This has led to postmodern authorial flipflop and its interplay upon in/direct authorial intervention in the text and textual interpretation. The resultant short analysis demonstrates that not only has Athar Baig intervened rhetorically but also, he has intruded the story editorially. At some places, Baig has confused his intervention with his persona too, a new authorial intrusion technique deduced from this analysis. The study has been undertaken in Urdu language with self-translation for evidences to support the claims deduced from the mentioned theoretical perspective.