Reconstruction of Partition Narrative: A Postmodern Analysis of Khushwant Singh’s Train to Pakistan

Ali Raza Fahad

doi:10.47067/jlcc.v4i3.120

Authors

Ali Raza Fahad Lecturer, Government Graduate College Gojra, Pakistan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47067/jlcc.v4i3.120

Keywords:

Alternative Narrative, Meta-Narrative, Postmodernism, Partition Narrative

Abstract

The notion of metanarratives has significant import in the depiction of the narratives built under postmodern conditions. They created a one-dimensional story of the turbulence and mayhem from the point of view of the partition of the subcontinent by framing it in the most terrible human tragedy imaginable. Instead of helping people deal with their feelings about the partition, this story just served to fuel their anger and make them more determined to get their own back. As a result, there was an insatiable want amongst readers for additional accounts of such events, preferably presented in the most dramatic and heroic fashion possible. Authors felt compelled to cater to the needs of the masses by producing works of popular literature. The only way to complete the assignment was to embellish the situations to the point where the public was satisfied. This current fad increasingly detaches its followers from reality. A distorted understanding of the partition had been constructed in their minds thanks to this material, seriously endangering their ability to reason. They had a one-dimensional view of the partition and associated it solely with the killing. Despite the fact that these tales promote violence and hatred, the partition literature is replete with examples of acts of compassion, charity, and humanity. There are fair and balanced depictions of the human side of partition. Khushwant Singh's Train to Pakistan is another example of the underappreciated stories that celebrate humanity and kindness. People on the subcontinent, who had previously lived in harmony, did not suddenly become violent or hostile; instead, they risked their own lives to protect those who were migrating and to aid those who needed assistance. A tremendous deal of kindness and sympathy is on display in this story, offering a softer, more human perspective on the standard account of the division. The present study investigates the alternative narrative of the partition narrative to depict the other side of the story graphed in the texture of bloodshed and butchery.

References

Asad, T. (1986). The Concept of Cultural Translation in British Social Anthropology. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Baudrillard, J. (1995). Simulacra and Simulation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Derrida, J. (1997). Of Grammatology. (Corrected ed). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Foucault, M. (1970). The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences. New York: Pantheon.

Foucault, M. (1982). The subject and power. Critical inquiry, 8(4), 777-795.

Jameson, F. (1991). Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Durham,NC: Duke University Press.

Lyotard, J. F. (1984). The postmodern condition: A report on knowledge (Vol. 10). University of Minnesota Press.

Nietzsche, F. (1954). On truth and lie in an extra-moral sense. The Portable Nietzsche, New York: Penguin. 42, 46-47.

Singh, K. (1956). Train to Pakistan. London: Chatto & Windus.

Smith, J. K. (2006). Who's Afraid of Postmodernism? (The Church and Postmodern Culture): Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church. Baker Academic.

Spiro, M. E. (1996). Postmodernist anthropology, subjectivity, and science: A modernist critique. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 38(04), 759-780.