Acidity (novelette)
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moved [[Acidity (Novelette)]] to [[Acidity (novelette)]]: minuscule letter
{{infobox Book | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->
| name = Acidity
| orig title =
| translator =
| image = <!--prefer 1st edition-->
| image_caption =
| author = [[Nadeem F. Paracha]]
| cover_artist =
| country = [[Pakistan]]
| language = [[English language|English]]
| series =
| genre = [[Dystopian novel|Dystopian]], [[Cyber]] [[novel]]
| publisher = [[www.chowk.com]]
| release_date = 2003
| media_type = Print (none) - online novel
| pages =
| isbn = None
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}
'''''Acidity''''' is a [[Dystopian]]{{Fact|date=February 2007}} cyber [[novelette]] written by [[Eccentricity (behavior)|eccentric]] [[Pakistan]]i [[journalist]] and writer, [[Nadeem F. Paracha]]. Written exclusively for the website [[www.chowk.com]] in [[2003]], it has gone on to become a controversial cult favorite among many young Pakistanis and [[India]]ns.
==Plot introduction==
Written by using various experimental writing techniques, such as [[William S. Burroughs]]' [[cut-up]] method and [[surrealist automatism]], Acidity is basically notes kept by Paracha on post-[[Cold War]] politics, society and economics (in India and Pakistan), during his five years as a [[drug addict]] and [[alcoholic]].
==Plot summary==
While recovering from his addictions, Paracha spent time rearranging these notes using the cut-up method and surrealist automatism.
He then turned it all into a work of fiction in which a [[heroin]] addict narrates his story set in future Pakistan and India that have turned into [[capitalism|capitalist]] and [[theistic]] [[dystopia]]s.
He is a traveler who is always moving up and down both the countries looking for drugs and in the process having hallucinatory dialogues with a Pakistani [[cleric]]/[[Islamic]] extremist (called in the book as "The Mufti"), a group of Hindu fundamentalists (called "The pundits"), a group of young [[neoliberal]]s (referred to as "the fun young people" and the "polite voids"), and an aging Indian [[Christian]] (called the "Holy Father").
There are also many other characters, but much of the story revolves around these main characters as Paracha constructs his dystopia in which capitalism and organized religion have been fused together as a new [[totalitarian]] system.
Acidity makes a clear comment this way on the rapid economic, political and social changes taking place in India and Pakistan, especially after the end of the Cold War.
==Literary significance & criticism==
Acidity drew extreme responses from readers when it first appeared on chowk.com. Some thought it to be a work of ingenious satire, while others thought it to be a work of a crank. However, over the years, it has grown into a cyber cult classic among many young Indians and Pakistanis. But it still gets flack for itself being so extreme while attacking the extremes of capitalism and organized religion.
Many of its fans love the use of [[absurdist]] and [[dadaist]] imagery that Paracha uses, sometimes almost to the point of sounding [[slapstick]] in its attempt to create a [[science fiction]] [[satire]] on the current happenings taking shape in India and Pakistan. {{Fact|date=February 2007}}
==See also==
*[[Nadeem F. Paracha]]
*[[Surrealist automatism]]
*[[Dystopia]]
*[[Dadaism]]
*[[List of dystopian literature]]
*[[Social science fiction]]
==External links==
*[http://www.chowk.com/show_article.cgi?aid=00002651&channel=leafyglade%20inn '''Acidity''' Pt: I, II, & III (Chowk.com)]
*[http://nadeemfparacha.googlepages.com/acidity Acidity Exclusive Google Site Version]
[[Category:2003 novels]]
[[Category:Dystopian novels]]