GENDERED SPACES AND FEMALE ERASURE IN THE LOST CHILDREN OF PARADISE

Abstract

Science fiction provides a speculative domain to create alternative representations for the misrepresented and silenced. Female writers have also utilized speculative fiction as a space to escape marginalized positions. Gilani’s The Lost Children of Paradise (2021), however, preserves traditional gendered spaces for women in a technologically advanced Pakistan. The aim of this research is to study the role of female agency in the speculative narrative of the male-dominant society depicted in Gilani’s novel. This research offers a content-based analysis of Gilani’s novel in order to develop an understanding of the passive role of women in the text and their silence within a male-dominated narrative. It utilizes feminist theory and the concept of gendered spaces to analyze the role of women in the narrative of a futuristic Pakistan in Gilani’s novel. This research shows that The Lost Children of Paradise (2021), a dystopian science fiction book set in Pakistan in the twenty-second century, depicts a civilization that is technologically sophisticated but socially inert. Gilani’s female characters play largely supporting roles; they are caregivers, lovers, or unnoticed supporters. There is a persistent stagnation of the system in the novel, which produces a pessimistic outlook. It also promotes objectified and erased women. This study contributes to an understanding of speculative fiction by male writers in Pakistan. It will allow further research into the role of women in Pakistani speculative fiction, especially that written by male authors, as an avenue for examining the promotion of gendered spaces.