Mapping Trauma, Loss, and Displacement: A Study of Select Indian Partition Narratives

Abstract

Partition of India was an event of tragic magnitude which inspired a massive body of literature which portrays the transgenerational trauma, loss and displacement and addresses Cathy Caruth’s fundamental question “What do the dying bodies of the past […] have to do with the living bodies of the present?” (Caruth 26) The poignancy of such literature lies in the portrayal of tragic human aspects of Partition. The social fabric was torn apart, and most authors address and reconstruct the history of this period through lived in experiences. The experience of Partition, displacement and dispossession fostered large scale individual and cultural trauma leaving significant impact on post-memory.

The paper would thus analyze and map the above-mentioned aspects of trauma through several theorists and study of select Indian Partition Narratives. The focus is therefore on cultural memory and how it helps to negotiate the trauma of displacement and loss created through inhuman cruelties perpetrated on communities affected by Partition. There is disillusionment and crisis of values which testify to a distressing and disintegrating period of Partition through the chosen narratives. This paper would thus help us to explore and map this cataclysmic event in the history of twentieth century India and its profound impact on contemporary culture, society, literature, and history as well as the repercussions on future generations too.