Bengal Partition Stories: An Unclosed Chapter (Anthem South Asian Studies) - Softcover

Fraser, Bashabi

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1843312999 ISBN 13: 9781843312994

Verlag: Anthem Press, 2008

Inhaltsangabe

Through oral histories, interviews and fictional retellings, ’Bengal Partition Stories’ unearths and articulates the collective memories of a people traumatised by the brutal division of their homeland.

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Dr Bashabi Fraser is currently a Lecturer in English Literature at Napier University and an Honorary Fellow at Edinburgh University.

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‘This is an astonishing book which reminds us insistently that in order to forget, we have to remember.’  David McCrone, Director of the Institute of Governance     ‘This is a truly remarkable volume, and deserves to attract the attention of historians, literary scholars, social scientists and others with an interest in ethnic conflict in any part of the world.’  Anthony Hepburn, Professor of History, University of Sunderland     This book throws new light on post-colonial evaluations of the Partition and its effect on eastern India. Until very recently, a striking state of ‘near silence’ has existed concerning the violence encountered by those who fled across the Bengal border. Bengal Partition Stories addresses this silence through the retelling of stories inspired by the division of Bengal, the mass exodus that followed and their repercussions on the cultural, social and economic character of the region, modern India as a whole and the newly-formed nation of Bangladesh.     Despite numerous critical enquiries into the history, politics and social dynamics that contributed to the partition of Bengal, there remains a distinct lack of in-depth exploration into the personal experiences of those directly affected. Through oral histories, interviews and fictional retellings of the event and its aftermath, Bengal Partition Stories seeks to fill this gap by unearthing and articulating the collective memories of a people traumatised by the brutal division of their homeland.     Dr Bashabi Fraser is an academic and writer based in Edinburgh. Currently, she is an Honorary Fellow at the Centre for South Asian Studies, Edinburgh University, and Lecturer in English Literature and Creative Writing at Napier University, Edinburgh. Her works include Tartan & Turban, a collection of poetry (Luath Press, 2004).     Anthem South Asian Studies     Anthem South Asian Studies provides comprehensive coverage of all aspects of the region, past and present. Guided by a team of leading academics and thinkers from around the world, the series focuses on key issues in fields ranging from economics and politics to history and the arts, and will appeal to academics, students and general readers alike.

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Bengal Partition Stories

An Unclosed ChapterBy Fraser, Bashabi

Anthem Press

Copyright © 2008 Fraser, Bashabi
All right reserved.
ISBN: 9781843312994

The Partition of India became an inevitable reality in the wake of successive events in Bengal. However, the Partition experience on India's eastern front was very different from that on its western border. The effect of these events on the communities concerned is evident in the shorter fiction that has since emerged in Bengali, which is the subject of this volume. This particular perspective will throw a distinct slant on a post-colonial evaluation of the Partition, and its effect on eastern India. The near 'silence' that has existed till very recently round the violence faced by people fleeing across the Bengal border, is striking, and the 'gaps' and ‘absences’ that exist, can be answered and filled in by the retelling of such experiences in the tales of an exodus that has changed the cultural, social and economic character of a divided Bengal, having an effect on modern India and the new nation of Bangladesh, thus raising questions about what is post-colonial. The stories depict the nature of this difference in their focus and what they have to tell.

Much has been written on the history, politics and social background which led to Bengal's Partition, but the actual experience of the people who were affected by the Partition has not been explored and can be recovered from oral histories and interviews or gleaned from the fiction, retelling the violence, the trauma, the small acts of humanity which the people—riot torn and/or dislocated or of those who found themselves in the ‘wrong’ country, experienced.

There has been a notable surge of interest in the Partition of India since the fiftieth year of Indian Independence in 1997. It has been a time to reflect, look back and weigh what India gained or lost as a result of decolonization. Like the Punjab, Bengal was partitioned at the time of the formation of Pakistan and the re-emergence of India as a nation.

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Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Anthem Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2008
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1843312999
• ISBN 13: 9781843312994
• Einband: Tapa blanda
• Anzahl der Seiten: 640
• Herausgeber: Fraser Bashabi
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar