A Postmodern Study of Nāṣir Kāẓimī’s Ghazal (In the Context of Decentralization and Mahābayāniyyah)

ناصر کاظمی کی غزل کا مابعدجدیدمطالعہ (لامرکزیت اور مہابیانیہ کے تناظر میں)

Abstract

Postmodernism, as a critical framework, contests the authority of fixed meanings, stable identities, and overarching meta-narratives that have long dominated literary and philosophical discourse. Jean-François Lyotard’s notion of the "postmodern condition" emphasizes the decline of grand narratives and the emergence of fragmented, localized forms of knowledge. In this view, meaning is no longer universal or permanent but exists as a multiplicity of shifting interpretations within language games. Building on this, Jacques Derrida’s theory of deconstruction exposes the inherent instabilities within texts, unraveling the assumptions that underpin traditional hierarchies of meaning and interpretation. Within this intellectual framework, the ġazals of Nāṣir Kāẓimī offer fertile ground for postmodern analysis. Though stylistically rooted in the classical Urdu tradition, Kāẓimī’s poetry subtly subverts conventional structures through its fragmented imagery, melancholic tone, and thematic preoccupations with loss, alienation, and existential uncertainty. His verse resists the imposition of any singular or centralized interpretive authority, instead inviting readers to engage with its ambiguities and emotional multiplicity.

This study undertakes a critical examination of Nāṣir Kāẓimī’s ġazals through a postmodern lens, focusing on how his poetry embodies decentering, ambiguity, and resistance to grand ideological frameworks. By highlighting the non-linearity, linguistic openness, and emotional fragmentation in his work, the paper argues that Kāẓimī's ġazals transcend traditional romantic or nostalgic readings and emerge as profound sites of postmodern sensibility and literary resistance.