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Abstract

The short story collection "گھوڑوں کے شہر میں اکیلا آدمی "by Mazharul Islam is a profound literary exploration of the existential disappearance of the individual in contemporary society. Rooted in the modern Urdu short story tradition, the collection captures the psychological turmoil, emotional isolation, and symbolic fragmentation of the human self. Where classical Urdu fiction emphasized social realism and collective concerns, modern storytelling turns inward, portraying the internal dissonance of characters who grapple with meaning, memory, and identity in a disoriented world. In His stories, characters are not simply lost, they are aware of their own vanishing, often trapped in abstract spaces between reality and illusion. Through stories He constructs a subtle yet haunting narrative of individuals detached from time, relationships, and even their own voices. The abstract tone, dreamlike imagery, and symbolic intensity of the collection foreground the alienation of the modern self-making these stories not just portrayals of solitude, but elegies for a generation struggling to remain visible in an increasingly opaque world.