Rural Society in the Twenty-First-Century Urdu Novel: A Study of Amna Mufti and Akhtar Raza Saleemi

اکیسویں صدی کا اردو ناول اور دیہی معاشرت : آمنہ مفتی اور اختر رضا سلیمی کے حوالے سے

Abstract

This article examines the representation of rural society in the Urdu novels of Amna Mufti and Akhtar Raza Saleemi. Both novelists bring village life into Urdu fiction with artistic sensitivity, yet their treatment of rural experience differs in focus and perspective. Amna Mufti presents the harsh realities of rural Punjab, particularly the exploitation of the poor by powerful landlords, social inequality, and the ecological crisis caused by the decline of water resources and the destruction of nature. In contrast, Akhtar Raza Saleemi portrays the cultural richness, oral traditions, collective memory, and natural beauty of the Hazara region. His fiction highlights the deep emotional and historical connection between rural people and their land. The study argues that both writers have significantly enriched the twenty-first-century Urdu novel by foregrounding rural life as a meaningful social, cultural, and ecological subject.