Date of Award

8-2025

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

School

Humanities

Committee Chair

Olivia Clare Friedman

Committee Chair School

Humanities

Committee Member 2

Monika Gehlawat

Committee Member 2 School

Humanities

Committee Member 3

Joshua Bernstein

Committee Member 3 School

Humanities

Committee Member 4

Charles Sumner

Committee Member 4 School

Humanities

Abstract

Set in rural and suburban Faisalabad, Pakistan, Prisoners is a collection of short stories featuring characters routinely trapped in hopeless personal, social, and spiritual crises. Using a wide stylistic and tonal range—from urbane realism to absurd and sardonic humor to dense surrealism—I strive to reveal the complexity of human experience and the power of literary artifact. The critical introduction to the collection discusses the constricting expectations placed upon postcolonial writers and the ways in which I diverge from that tradition.

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