The Partition of Bengal: Fragile Borders and New Identities

Debjani Sengupta

doi:10.1017/CBO9781107448155

This study looks at the rich literature that has been spawned through the historical imagination of Bengali-speaking writers in West Bengal and Bangladesh through issues of homelessness, migration and exile to see how the Partition of Bengal in 1947 has thrown a long shadow over memories and cultural practices. Through a rich trove of literary and other materials, the book lays bare how the Partition has been remembered or how it has been forgotten. For the first time, hitherto untranslated archival materials and texts in Bangla have been put together to assess the impact of 1947 on the cultural memory of Bangla-speaking peoples and communities. This study contends that there is not one but many smaller partitions that women and men suffered, each with its own textures of pain, guilt and affirmation.

'This work is substantive not merely because of the political and literary elements Sengputa brings into her narrative but also because of the focus she places on the roles of such individuals as Ashoka Gupta, Renuka Ray and Renu Chakravartty in promoting communal harmony in Bengal.'

Syed Badrul Ashan Source: Asian Affairs

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The Partition of Bengal

Fragile Borders and New Identities

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Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-iv

Dedication
pp v-vi

Contents
pp vii-viii

Acknowledgements
pp ix-xii

Introduction
pp 1-35

1 - The Calcutta Riots in Representations and Testimonies
pp 36-67

2 - Noakhali and After: History, Memory and Representations
pp 68-116

3 - Colony Fiction: Displacement and Belonging in Post-Partition Bangla Fiction
pp 117-156

4 - From Dandakaranya to Marichjhapi: Refugee Rehabilitation in Bangla Partition Fictions
pp 157-187

5 - The Partition's Afterlife: Nation and Narration from the Northeast of India and Bangladesh
pp 188-219

6 - Uncanny Landscapes and Unstable Borders: Politics and Identity in Geo-Narratives of the Partition (2005–10)
pp 220-250

Bibliography
pp 251-266

Index
pp 267-274

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The Partition of Bengal

Fragile Borders and New Identities

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