“A Room of One’s Own” in In Other Rooms, Other Wonders: The (Mad)woman Writer in the Short Stories of Daniyal Mueenuddin

Abstract

A central theme of Daniyal Mueenuddin’s In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, is the structural oppression of women in Punjab, Pakistan. The primary discourse surrounding Mueenuddin’s debut short story collection by critics and readers alike have mainly focused on the ill treatment of women by men and the feudal patriarchal system at the backdrop of the eight interconnected stories. While it is true that the women of Mueenuddin’s short stories are all victims of their circumstances, the narrative being told is not one of victimhood. In my thesis, I intend to shift the conversation regarding female oppression in In Other Rooms, Other Wonders from one of resistance to one of resilience and rebellion. The aim of this research is to draw parallels between the female characters of Mueenuddin’s short stories and the characterization of the “woman writer” as discussed in Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own and Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar’s The Mad Woman in the Attic. In doing so I will be showing how the female characters of Daniyal Mueenuddin’s short stories are not simply passive victims of the patriarchy, but rather are women attempting to take control of their own narratives in whatever capacity they are able to.