Dialogue on Partition explores dialogic possibilities in Indo-Pak English novels on partition of India in 1947 and expounds upon the potential of art and literature to offer dialogue. The book locates the inherent individualities of voices of narrators, characters and writers of these novels, as promulgators of dialogue in the face of the contentious event of partition and post-partition conflict. The book shows how the authors of these novels objectify their religious stance and present a regional affiliation attributed to a shared existence in the subcontinent, while locating and dissecting shared symbols, regional fraternity, sufi and mystic eclecticism and diversity of heteroglot and polyphonic voices in the chronotopal space and time of partition. The objective of the book is to critique the role of Indo-Pak novels in propagating dialogue, thereby proposing ways of reducing fissures implanted in the psycho-social terrain of the inhabitants of the region by offering junctures within the literary domain. Thus, the book expounds upon how these novels may be perceived as tools of integration between sects, races and nations at large. It can aid in opening borders to shared art and literature which inherently engenders response and dialogue leading to possibilities of coalition and integration.
Syrrina Ahsan Ali Haque is assistant professor of English at the University of Lahore.
Chapter I: Dialogization of Identities in Bapsi Sidhwa's Ice-Candy-Man Chapter II: The Heteroglot World in Khushwant Singh's Train to Pakistan Chapter III: Chronotopal Movement in Anita Desai's Clear Light of Day Chapter IV: The Coexistence of Polyphonic Voices in Mehr Nigar Masroor's Shadows of Time Chapter V: Creation of Dialogic Paradigms
Dr. Haque's study of four Indo-Pak novels provides a fascinating and fresh perspective on the tragedy of Partition through the lens of the Bakhtinian dialogic. Haque's 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 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 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 A dialogue that is indeed needed! -- Bapsi Sidhwa, award-winning highly acclaimed Pakistani- American writer Syrrina Haque's 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 Bakhtin's 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 Women's Literary and Cinematic Fictions 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
