Adaptation or Historical Anomaly?: Partition Narratives and Their Visual Counterparts
This research accentuates the presence of multi-layered histories within partition literature and its adaptations as a historiographic mise en abyme— an interpretive multiplicity of historical narratives. The aim is to highlight, probe and eventually determine the significance of addressing multivo...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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National University of Modern Languages (NUML), Islamabad
2020-06-01
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| Series: | NUML Journal of Critical Inquiry |
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| Online Access: | https://jci.numl.edu.pk/index.php/jci/article/view/123 |
| _version_ | 1811301452289671168 |
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| author | Ayesha Akram |
| author_facet | Ayesha Akram |
| author_sort | Ayesha Akram |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
This research accentuates the presence of multi-layered histories within partition literature and its adaptations as a historiographic mise en abyme— an interpretive multiplicity of historical narratives. The aim is to highlight, probe and eventually determine the significance of addressing multivocality within sensitive historical accounts when told through the aesthetic mediums of fiction and film. In the context of this research, the traditional narrative of the partition of the Subcontinent includes political and nationalistic attitudes on both sides of the divide. The research sets out to explore the extent to which these overreaching accounts and wide-ranging versions of the partition empower the concerned entities to give subjective meanings to their partition experiences. Gurinder Chadha’s film Viceroy’s House (2017), which is partly based on the memoirs of Louis Mountbatten, documented in Freedom at Midnight by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre (1976) is taken as the case study, with reference to its source text. The primary trigger of this research is the debate between the Traditionalist and Revisionist school of Historiography, as it seeks to examine the inherent problematic nature of revisionist partition history on text and on screen. This research presents the textual and film narratives of partition as alternative archives, whose authenticity and validity is yet to be established, in comparison with the historical documents/texts. It advocates the necessity to constantly re-evaluate and reinterpret history in the light of new facts; however, all attempts to revise history in the name of aesthetics, without merit and evidence, should be recognized as subjective versions.
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| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T07:09:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8424628c083a468ea8e739cb122b5367 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2789-4665 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T07:09:13Z |
| publishDate | 2020-06-01 |
| publisher | National University of Modern Languages (NUML), Islamabad |
| record_format | Article |
| series | NUML Journal of Critical Inquiry |
| spelling | doaj.art-8424628c083a468ea8e739cb122b53672022-12-22T02:56:55ZengNational University of Modern Languages (NUML), IslamabadNUML Journal of Critical Inquiry2789-46652020-06-0118I10.52015/numljci.v18iI.123Adaptation or Historical Anomaly?: Partition Narratives and Their Visual CounterpartsAyesha Akram 0Department of English and Literary Studies University of Management & Technology, Lahore This research accentuates the presence of multi-layered histories within partition literature and its adaptations as a historiographic mise en abyme— an interpretive multiplicity of historical narratives. The aim is to highlight, probe and eventually determine the significance of addressing multivocality within sensitive historical accounts when told through the aesthetic mediums of fiction and film. In the context of this research, the traditional narrative of the partition of the Subcontinent includes political and nationalistic attitudes on both sides of the divide. The research sets out to explore the extent to which these overreaching accounts and wide-ranging versions of the partition empower the concerned entities to give subjective meanings to their partition experiences. Gurinder Chadha’s film Viceroy’s House (2017), which is partly based on the memoirs of Louis Mountbatten, documented in Freedom at Midnight by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre (1976) is taken as the case study, with reference to its source text. The primary trigger of this research is the debate between the Traditionalist and Revisionist school of Historiography, as it seeks to examine the inherent problematic nature of revisionist partition history on text and on screen. This research presents the textual and film narratives of partition as alternative archives, whose authenticity and validity is yet to be established, in comparison with the historical documents/texts. It advocates the necessity to constantly re-evaluate and reinterpret history in the light of new facts; however, all attempts to revise history in the name of aesthetics, without merit and evidence, should be recognized as subjective versions. https://jci.numl.edu.pk/index.php/jci/article/view/123Adaptationmise en abymemultivocalitypartitionhistoriographyrevisionism |
| spellingShingle | Ayesha Akram Adaptation or Historical Anomaly?: Partition Narratives and Their Visual Counterparts NUML Journal of Critical Inquiry Adaptation mise en abyme multivocality partition historiography revisionism |
| title | Adaptation or Historical Anomaly?: Partition Narratives and Their Visual Counterparts |
| title_full | Adaptation or Historical Anomaly?: Partition Narratives and Their Visual Counterparts |
| title_fullStr | Adaptation or Historical Anomaly?: Partition Narratives and Their Visual Counterparts |
| title_full_unstemmed | Adaptation or Historical Anomaly?: Partition Narratives and Their Visual Counterparts |
| title_short | Adaptation or Historical Anomaly?: Partition Narratives and Their Visual Counterparts |
| title_sort | adaptation or historical anomaly partition narratives and their visual counterparts |
| topic | Adaptation mise en abyme multivocality partition historiography revisionism |
| url | https://jci.numl.edu.pk/index.php/jci/article/view/123 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ayeshaakram adaptationorhistoricalanomalypartitionnarrativesandtheirvisualcounterparts |