Lecture on Partition of India in Print Media and Cinema
Introduction
- Focus on home and nostalgia in partition literature.
- Shift in scholarship towards personalized narratives and fresh themes.
- Need for new approaches to investigate partition literature.
Partition Studies
- Critical sensitivity to literary representations.
- Literature as a legitimate source for understanding the past.
- Importance of literature in societies with histories of violence.
Power and Narration
- Clifford Geertz on power dynamics in narration.
- Depiction is a form of power; questioning who narrates and who is narrated.
- 1990s debates on history and theory, questioning fact, representation, and reality.
Literature vs. Historical Documentation
- Literature offers complex and nuanced character portrayals.
- Literature helps in understanding justice, freedom, and empathy.
- Cultural memory is dynamic; forgetting has different forms.
Canonization
- Jan Assmann's concepts of canon and archive.
- Canonization as a process involving power struggles and decisions.
- Selection of what becomes part of the cultural memory.
Partition Fiction
- Focus on Punjab and Bengal as local, contingent, and truthful narratives.
- Importance of reading partition literature for understanding the present.
"Shadow Lines" by Amitabh Ghosh
- Weaves fact and fiction, set against WWII and 1964 communal riots.
- Explores the persistence of unified memories despite national division.
- Narrates the story of three generations across Calcutta, London, and Dhaka.
- Highlights emotional bonds transcending national borders.
Key Themes in "Shadow Lines"
- Non-linear narrative style.
- Borders as non-linear, metaphorically represented as shadows.
- Explores the effect of partition on personal and collective memory.
- Challenges the concept of borders and national identity.
Characters and Plot
- Focus on characters like Trideep, the narrator, and his grandmother.
- Tragedies of war, riots, displacement, and nation formation.
- Emphasis on shared memories surpassing geographic and political boundaries.
Critique of Nationalism
- Questions the rationality of borders and national identities.
- Highlights the void in understanding repeated violence.
- Argues for transnational communities interconnected through historical memory.
Conclusion
- The lecture encompassed discussions on how literature and memory shape understanding of partition.
- Amitabh Ghosh's "Shadow Lines" challenges the traditional narrative of borders and national identity.
- Recap of the importance of personalized narratives in partition literature.
End of Lecture Notes
(Next lecture will continue these discussions.)