This is a first history of Pakistani literature written in English. It includes those authors who either migrated to Pakistan or whose work is highly relevant to the themes engaging the writers of the new country in the years immediately before and after Partition. It contains a historical account of the novels, drama, belles lettres, and especially of poetry, written from the late 1940s until 1988, when this book was first written. It also contains a bibliography which is important since some of this material is now untraceable. Although there have been considerable later additions to the genres covered in this history, there is no other comparable historical account of Pakistani literature in English during these first forty years.

This book covers the course of post-colonial literature in Pakistan and the new course on Pakistani Literature in English that is being taught at universities in Pakistan.