The Sense of the Past: Historical perspective in Atiq Rahimi’s Novels

Abstract

New Historicism is a theoretical approach that believes that history and text are intertwined. Greenblatt believes that there is a relation between text and context, and art and society. A text is produced by humans and as a human made object is radically informed by all the forces that condition and shapes his society and history. A social, political, religious, and economic factor of a society determines the literature it produces.  A person lives in pain can explain the depth of his wound. Rahimi always embraces his identity as an Afghan. Rahimi believes Afghanistan’s present horrendous situation is because of its terrible past. Rahimi’s works records the transformation of the solemn land into a bloody land. The Afghan’s fate changes with the arrival of Soviet. The political changes pave the way for violence in Afghanistan. This paper analyses the past political changes of Afghanistan are responsible for the present dreadful conditions of the country.