Uzma Aslam Khan's Thinner Than Skin and Prospects for Aesthetic Appreciation

Abstract

The present study argues that the novel Thinner than Skin is not intended to be read as a depiction of the beautiful scenery of northern Pakistan. Instead, the beauty of the landscape's surface masks the bleak/painful reality beneath. As a result, aesthetic issues in Thinner than Skin revolves around whether or not the underlying sufferings that contradict the sublime should be taken into account when appraising the creative worth of works of fiction. When reading the story from Schopenhauer's point of view, this lends new meanings and an existential difficulty to the aesthetic beauty of the aforementioned locations.