El. knyga: Dialogue on Partition: Literature Knows No Borders

Dialogue on Partition utilizes compelling close readings, impressive historical and cultural contextualizations, and relevant literary and philosophical theories to make an innovative and significant case for approaching the literature of partition. A model of interdisciplinary public scholarship on a hugely salient topic! -- Ben Railton, Fitchburg State University Syrrina Haques important book is a crucial step toward establishing a much-needed dialogue about the rights of minorities within and across the borders of South Asia. Haque's skillful use of Bakhtins theory of dialogism to highlight the alternatives that partition novels provide to monological nationalist discourses is a must-read. -- Shazia Rahman, author of Place and Postcolonial Ecofeminism: Pakistani Womens Literary and Cinematic Fictions A dialogue that is indeed needed! -- Bapsi Sidhwa, award-winning highly acclaimed Pakistani- American writer This book reads four novels to bring out their dialogic elements with the admirable purpose of showing how fiction can be an 'epistemological implement' that can imaginatively work across borders. Fictional treatments of the tragic violence attending Partition of greater India into India and Pakistan are selected from Parsi, Sikh, Hindu and Muslim authors to bring out the quest for points of community: love, song, language and the mystical traditions of religions. Suggestive insights such as the role of regionalism add to existing scholarship and the inclusion of Mehr Nigar Masroor's 'Shadows of Time' is a useful complement to commentary on 'Ice Candy Man', 'Train to Pakistan' and 'Clear Light of Day'. -- Paul Sharrad, University of Wollongong This aptly titled book beautifully illustrates how a historical rupture like Partition can paradoxically lead to dialogue, a dialogue that not only recognizes the centrality of Partition to South Asian studies but also the importance of the literary chronicle to bearing witness. -- Carine Mardorossian, Executive Director, Northeast Modern Language Association Dr. Haques study of four Indo-Pak novels provides a fascinating and fresh perspective on the tragedy of Partition through the lens of the Bakhtinian dialogic. Haques book offers the timely suggestion that through the polyphonic interactions offered by these novels among the discourse communities impacted by Partition, national, religious, and ethnic boundaries may be revealed as permeable sites of hybridity. -- Abby Bardi