محمود احمد قاضی کے افسانوں میں علامت نگاری

SYMBOLISM IN THE SHORT STORIES OF MAHMOOD AHMED QAZI

Abstract

Mahmood Ahmed Qazi is a prominent Urdu short story writer. Four collections of his short stories have been published. He has written a large number of short stories, in which he skillfully employs symbolism. In fact, Mahmood Ahmed Qazi has made symbolism the hallmark of his writings.

Ever since the short story expanded its scope, strength, and diversity, it has broken traditional boundaries and absorbed within itself the vastness and complexities of life. Short fiction contains an imaginative world which, despite being close to reality, is not entirely real. Therefore, realism, romanticism, symbolism, and abstraction are included in short story writing as reflections of life. In every era, writers have been divided into two groups: one group writes with the intention of representing life directly, while the other presents life in a symbolic form. Mahmood Ahmed Qazi belongs to the second group.

In abstraction, the story largely depends on symbolism. Often, in abstraction, the short story writer fails to express symbols clearly, resulting in ambiguity, which becomes the greatest obstacle. In his stories, symbolism moves along with the narrative. Unlike other abstractionists, he neither halts nor makes his stories disappear into obscurity. In his work, one can feel the pleasure of using both symbolism and abstraction together. This can be seen in stories such as Hawa , Aik Baar Phir Jallad, Chor and other short stories. Through symbolic expression in his short stories, Mahmood Ahmed Qazi demonstrated the magic of his pen among his contemporaries and achieved considerable fame.