Kartography (2002) is the third novel by the Karachi-born author Kamila Shamsie and the “first full-length Pakistani-English novel with the 1971 war”, which resulted in the secession of Pakistan’s East wing, “as its central concern” (Bhattacharji, 385). Today, Shamsie is best known for her highly prescient Home Fire (2017), which explores the familial repercussions of a young British Pakistani’s recruitment by the Islamic State, and for her post-9/11 novel Burnt Shadows (2009). Predominantly set in Karachi, Kartography follows on from Shamsie’s fabular debut In the City by the Sea (1998), a tale of political oppression under military rule, and from Salt and Saffron, a witty post-Partition story of love across class and international boundaries. It was initially reviewed as an intense, character-driven, cosmopolitan love story that provides a lesson in subcontinental history – specifically, the...
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Citation: Clements, Madeline. "Kartography". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 July 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=20402, accessed 14 December 2025.]
