Revisiting and Reimagining History in Amitav Ghosh’s The Shadow Lines

Shumaiya Haque Mim

Oct-Nov-Dec

Abstract
This study analyzed the process of constructing the historical identities in Amitav Ghosh’s novel, “The Shadow Line”. The study was, thus, intended to critically identify and describe how the novel untangled history from the perspective of memory, identity and nation-state borders. Primary data were collected through the textual analysis of the novels under consideration with reference to the main topic: ‘partition’, and other significant topics such as ‘riots’ and ‘individual collective memories’. Further secondary data were collected from peer-reviewed journals and analysis of critics on Ghosh’s work. Data collection technique used in the study includes thematic analysis whereby recurring patterns of representation in history were considered and grouped. Examining the narrative strategies, the analysis process applied textual study and hermeneutic approaches to examine how Ghosh criticized historical objectivism and insisted on individual subjectivity. As can be inferred from the outcome, it seems that the narrative challenges the borderline between history and memory while providing a commentary on nationalist history. Findings of the study suggest that the historical narratives presented in the post-colonial literature should be revisited especially from the view point of the recovery of the role of fiction in the formation of collective memory and identity. For this reason, this study finds itself in the wider body of literature that explores the capability of literature to function as a tool of challenging and re-constructing history with specific connection to the Indian sub-continent.

Keyword: Post colonialism, Hybridity, Historical Narratives, Identity, Memory

Research Area: Literature

Country: Bangladesh

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