This critical study presents an overview of a wide selection of Pakistani novels in English contextualised in salient historical moments or developments, including pre-20th century Islamic history, the 1947 partition, the 1971 Pakistani war, the Zia years, and post-9/11 Pakistan, as well as in pervasive themes, including ethnonationalist tensions, diaspora, and corruption.

This title analyses a variety of US and Pakistani novels and films since 9/11 and focuses on how such fictions construct an understanding of history through the portrayal of two stock characters in the espionage genre: the spy and the spy's nemesis, who, in this context, is the religious extremist or fundamentalist.

Looking at a wide selection of Pakistani novels in English, this book explores how literary texts imaginatively probe the past, convey the present, and project a future in terms that facilitate a sense of collective belonging. The novels discussed cover a range of historical movements and developments, including pre-20th century Islamic history, the 1947 partition, the 1971 Pakistani war, the Zia years, and post-9/11 Pakistan, as well as pervasive themes, including ethnonationalist tensions, the zamindari system, and conspiracy thinking.

The book offers a range of representations of...