THE ECHOES OF EXISTENTIALISM IN TEHMINA DURRANI’S MY FEUDAL LORD

Abstract

This paper aims to critically analyse the echoes of existentialism in the autobiography of Tehmina Durrani’s My Feudal Lord (1994). It explores how a woman's true essence is undermined and how being made to live as an object causes her to feel alienated, dissatisfied and going through an existential crisis. It further attempts to show the delicate existence of Tehmina Durrani (a Muslim girl) who emerged with a strong existence that was given a place of dust and rubble by the patriarchal structure of Pakistani society. The selected text has been explored through the lens of Existentialist feminism in the light of Simone de Beauvoir’s theory as explained in her revolutionary work, The Second Sex (2009).