A Comparative Study of Existential Elements in Anees Nagi’s “Deewar ke Peechay” and Khalid Javed’s“Mout ki Kitab”

Abstract

This study presents a comparative analysis of existential elements in Anees Nagi’s Deewar ke Peechay and Khalid Javed’s Mout ki Kitab, two significant works of modern Urdu literature that reflect profound philosophical and psychological concerns of the contemporary individual. Drawing upon existentialist thought—particularly themes of alienation, absurdity, anxiety, death, and the crisis of meaning—the research examines how both writers articulate human existence in a fragmented and oppressive social reality. Anees Nagi’s Deewar ke Peechay portrays existential confinement through symbolic barriers, highlighting the individual’s struggle against social norms, inner emptiness, and the loss of authentic selfhood. In contrast, Khalid Javed’s Mout ki Kitab intensifies existential despair by focusing on death, decay, and corporeal reality, presenting existence as a continuous confrontation with meaninglessness and mortality. While Nagi’s narrative leans toward intellectual abstraction and symbolic resistance, Khalid Javed adopts a stark, grotesque realism to expose existential anxiety. The study argues that despite differences in narrative style and thematic emphasis, both texts converge in depicting the modern human condition as deeply alienated and psychologically fractured. By comparing these works, the paper highlights their shared contribution to existential discourse in Urdu fiction and underscores their relevance to understanding modern existential consciousness.