Nadeem Aslam, The Wasted Vigil

Emily Horton (Brunel University London)

Ed. by Jenni Ramone, The Nottingham Trent University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 10.3.2: Pakistani and Bangladeshi Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Claire Gallien (Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3), Pavan Kumar Malreddy (J W Goethe University of Frankfurt), Delphine Munos (Université de Liège), Muneeza Shamsie (Independent Scholar - Asia), Niaz Zaman (Independent University Bangladesh)

Dates

First circulation or publication 2008

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

The Wasted Vigil (2008), Nadeem Aslam’s third novel, takes on a different setting and direction from either of his two earlier fictions, Season of the Rainbirds (1993) and Maps for Lost Lovers (2004), corroborating his self-affirmed interest to move beyond his own background and immigrant experience by exploring instead the contemporary political hot-spot of wartime Afghanistan (see Aslam, 2011). As such, the novel situates itself as a direct response to post-9/11 ‘War on Terror’ politics, weaving into its melancholic representation of local post-Taliban animosities direct references to current US military operations in the area, as well as a longer history of imperial involvement stretching b…

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2455 words

Citation: Horton, Emily. "The Wasted Vigil". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 October 2016 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=26541, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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