La linea dell’odio: la frontiera nella letteratura della <i>Partition</i>

When, after a series of violent riots, the Congress Party decided to accept the request of the Muslim League for a separate and independent Muslim state, the British authorities drew the boundaries that split up the regions of Punjab and Bengal creating East and West Pakistan. To the West the line w...

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Main Author: Rossella Ciocca
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: UNICApress 2011-05-01
Series:Between
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ojs.unica.it/index.php/between/article/view/141
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author Rossella Ciocca
author_facet Rossella Ciocca
author_sort Rossella Ciocca
collection DOAJ
description When, after a series of violent riots, the Congress Party decided to accept the request of the Muslim League for a separate and independent Muslim state, the British authorities drew the boundaries that split up the regions of Punjab and Bengal creating East and West Pakistan. To the West the line was called Wagah and successively sadly known as the line of hatred. The year 1947, while marking the freedom and independence of the Indian population from British rule, at the same time marked the simultaneous partition of the subcontinent into two different nations. This article examines the ethnic, religious and gender violence which deflagrated in and after 1947, through its representation in South Asian literature. I take as my point of departure the role played by the frontier between the new two countries: a territorial wound which caused a still unhealed infection. Questioning the nationalist idea of identity and the role played by borders, the analyzed works deal with the necessity of unearthing the trauma and loss attached to Partition. The kernel of meaning of this fiction lies at the intersection between aesthetical research and moral concern. An intersection from which the various voices seem to vindicate the primacy of narrative in the acts of understanding and witnessing what chronicle, politics and even history were failing to see: the dark side of the glorious Independence of India, the Partition, in all its absurdity and horror.
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spelling doaj.art-a639d9fe835344d9b97eff099302c7042023-08-02T05:26:33ZengUNICApressBetween2039-65972011-05-011110.13125/2039-6597/141131La linea dell’odio: la frontiera nella letteratura della <i>Partition</i>Rossella Ciocca0Università degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale”When, after a series of violent riots, the Congress Party decided to accept the request of the Muslim League for a separate and independent Muslim state, the British authorities drew the boundaries that split up the regions of Punjab and Bengal creating East and West Pakistan. To the West the line was called Wagah and successively sadly known as the line of hatred. The year 1947, while marking the freedom and independence of the Indian population from British rule, at the same time marked the simultaneous partition of the subcontinent into two different nations. This article examines the ethnic, religious and gender violence which deflagrated in and after 1947, through its representation in South Asian literature. I take as my point of departure the role played by the frontier between the new two countries: a territorial wound which caused a still unhealed infection. Questioning the nationalist idea of identity and the role played by borders, the analyzed works deal with the necessity of unearthing the trauma and loss attached to Partition. The kernel of meaning of this fiction lies at the intersection between aesthetical research and moral concern. An intersection from which the various voices seem to vindicate the primacy of narrative in the acts of understanding and witnessing what chronicle, politics and even history were failing to see: the dark side of the glorious Independence of India, the Partition, in all its absurdity and horror.http://ojs.unica.it/index.php/between/article/view/141FrontieraPartitionIndiaPakistanViolenzaNarrazione
spellingShingle Rossella Ciocca
La linea dell’odio: la frontiera nella letteratura della <i>Partition</i>
Between
Frontiera
Partition
India
Pakistan
Violenza
Narrazione
title La linea dell’odio: la frontiera nella letteratura della <i>Partition</i>
title_full La linea dell’odio: la frontiera nella letteratura della <i>Partition</i>
title_fullStr La linea dell’odio: la frontiera nella letteratura della <i>Partition</i>
title_full_unstemmed La linea dell’odio: la frontiera nella letteratura della <i>Partition</i>
title_short La linea dell’odio: la frontiera nella letteratura della <i>Partition</i>
title_sort la linea dell odio la frontiera nella letteratura della i partition i
topic Frontiera
Partition
India
Pakistan
Violenza
Narrazione
url http://ojs.unica.it/index.php/between/article/view/141
work_keys_str_mv AT rossellaciocca lalineadellodiolafrontieranellaletteraturadellaipartitioni