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Looking Back: The 1947 Partition of India, 70 Years On
While discourse on the Partition, especially through literary representations, has changed radically, it is time to revisit it from a third and perhaps fourth-generation point of view. On the 70th anniversary of India’s Independence and Partition, this anthology of diverse narratives collects fresh reflections on the continuing relevance and impact of 1947, and its afterlife, in South Asia.
In what ways can we re-think and re-imagine 1947 today, in 2017? Has the subcontinent worked through its burden of history and trauma relayed across generations? Or are we still trapped by the curse of mutual animosity, incoherence and distrust? Are there routes beyond polarised perceptions and attitudes that wait to be (re-)discovered?
Earlier Partition anthologies have underplayed the narratives of the aged, of marginal castes and tribes who may have experienced 1947 differently. The genres of poetry, drama and reportage have likewise not been collected and read as a whole. This anthology—of essays, memoirs, art, short fiction, poetry, graphic narrative, reportage and drama—seeks to rectify these omissions in a manner that is both self-reflexive and historically aware. It also features fresh translations—from Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and Bangla—of older, lesser-known works together with new writing that narrates unheard and forgotten stories. In times when India-Pakistan relations are fraught, when we remain as divided by religion as by how we imagine the nation, this is an effort to cast new light on our fractured and conjoined past and to help us reflect on it with humanity.
The volume would be an asset to students and scholars of South Asian literature and history.
In what ways can we re-think and re-imagine 1947 today, in 2017? Has the subcontinent worked through its burden of history and trauma relayed across generations? Or are we still trapped by the curse of mutual animosity, incoherence and distrust? Are there routes beyond polarised perceptions and attitudes that wait to be (re-)discovered?
Earlier Partition anthologies have underplayed the narratives of the aged, of marginal castes and tribes who may have experienced 1947 differently. The genres of poetry, drama and reportage have likewise not been collected and read as a whole. This anthology—of essays, memoirs, art, short fiction, poetry, graphic narrative, reportage and drama—seeks to rectify these omissions in a manner that is both self-reflexive and historically aware. It also features fresh translations—from Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and Bangla—of older, lesser-known works together with new writing that narrates unheard and forgotten stories. In times when India-Pakistan relations are fraught, when we remain as divided by religion as by how we imagine the nation, this is an effort to cast new light on our fractured and conjoined past and to help us reflect on it with humanity.
The volume would be an asset to students and scholars of South Asian literature and history.
396 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2017
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About the author
Rakhshanda Jalil
49 books36 followersRakhshanda Jalil is a writer, critic and literary historian. Her published work comprises edited anthologies, among them a selection of Pakistani women writers entitled, Neither Night Nor Day; and a collection of esssays on Delhi, Invisible City: she is co-author of Partners in Freedom: Jamia Millia Islamia and Journey to a Holy Land: A Pilgrim s Diary. She is also a well-known translator, with eight published translations of Premchand, Asghar Wajahat, Saadat Hasan Manto, Shahryar, Intezar Hussain and Phanishwarnath Renu.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 13, 2017
Looking Back, 1947 Partition of India 70 Years on, (edited by Tarun K. Saint, Debjani Sengupta, Rakhshanda Jalil)
On looking back at the moment of rupture after seventy years, one understands that the partitioning of South Asia in two different nations (subsequently, a third nation, Bangladesh emerged later), holds different meanings, the referents of which are regulated, defined and, at times, used selectively by the institutions of power in India and Pakistan. Selective appropriation of events by the state machinery, more often than not, leads to the creation of an exclusivist version of nationalism that does not attempt at reconciliation; instead gnawingly widens the divide, circumventing the corridors of history shared between these nation-states. Memories of the event are cautiously abraded, and most of the time avoided, using the rhetoric that such an ugly past needs to be willingly forgotten. This collective amnesia marks the point of enquiry through which recent scholars of Partition Studies try to unravel the deep rooted meaning of the event. The book “Looking Back” is another attempt at reconciliation. As an anthology it brings together critical essays, memoirs, fictional writings, poetry, plays and discussions from both the side of the border to speak for those individuals who refuse to consign the memories of the event into oblivion.
In a way, as Tarun K. Saint observes, the idea is to create a literary historiography of the Partition of South Asia, and to show how the event has shaped our modern notions of citizenship, identity formation and collective remembrance.
On looking back at the moment of rupture after seventy years, one understands that the partitioning of South Asia in two different nations (subsequently, a third nation, Bangladesh emerged later), holds different meanings, the referents of which are regulated, defined and, at times, used selectively by the institutions of power in India and Pakistan. Selective appropriation of events by the state machinery, more often than not, leads to the creation of an exclusivist version of nationalism that does not attempt at reconciliation; instead gnawingly widens the divide, circumventing the corridors of history shared between these nation-states. Memories of the event are cautiously abraded, and most of the time avoided, using the rhetoric that such an ugly past needs to be willingly forgotten. This collective amnesia marks the point of enquiry through which recent scholars of Partition Studies try to unravel the deep rooted meaning of the event. The book “Looking Back” is another attempt at reconciliation. As an anthology it brings together critical essays, memoirs, fictional writings, poetry, plays and discussions from both the side of the border to speak for those individuals who refuse to consign the memories of the event into oblivion.
In a way, as Tarun K. Saint observes, the idea is to create a literary historiography of the Partition of South Asia, and to show how the event has shaped our modern notions of citizenship, identity formation and collective remembrance.
May 25, 2022
Nice collection of short stories, memoirs and essays.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews