Leading French Scholar David Waterman enlightened that the story of any nation can not be explained without any historical backdrop particularly a new one like Pakistan.
Delivering a lecture at International Islamic University Islamabad on "Contemporary Novels in English: History, Nation and Family", David Waterman, Associate Professor at University of La Rochelle, France, said that in case of Pakistan the literature through its appearance during the freedom movement highlighted the saga of Pakistan.
He said the germs of extreme nationalism based on religious norms, social set-up, quest for freedom protection of cultural and traditional heritage described with defined reasoning. However, the post-partition literature deals with the socio-political, ideological and ethnic problems of Pakistani society, he commented.
David Waterman added that it is essential to make the distinction between literal and exemplary memory as the first subordinates the present to past while the second allows the past to be exploited in the present. He elaborated that cultural identity is always a function of social relations and struggles of families offer the reader a personal perspective with which to consider issues of cultural identity on a large scale. Professor Qaiserah M. Alvi Director Women Campus expressed gratitude to the visiting professor and presented the university souvenir to him.