SOUTH ASIAN PARTITION FICTION IN ENGLISH
From Khushwant Singh to Amitav Ghosh (2010) - ISBN: 978 90 8964 245 5South Asian Partition Fiction in English: From Khushwant Singh to Amitav Ghosh explores a significant cross-section of South Asian fiction in English written on the theme of Partition from the mid-1950s to the late 1980s, and shows how the Partition novel in English traverses a very interesting trajectory during this period – from just ‘reporting’ the cataclysmic event to theorizing about it.
The six novels selected for study (Train to Pakistan, A Bend in the Ganges, Ice-Candy-Man, Clear Light of Day, Midnight’s Children, and The Shadow Lines) show that, essentially, three factors shape the contours and determine the thrust of the narratives – the time in which the novelists are writing; the value they attach to women as subjects of this traumatic history; and the way they perceive the concept of the nation.
“Roy’s knowledge of the field of her investigation is comprehensive and detailed, and her textual analysis is lucid and penetrating.”
In English Studies, 94 (2), 2013, pp. 247-248.