Gender and Nationalism Perspectives on Partition Fiction and Cinema

This book studies negotiations of gender politics in the process of nation formation in the aftermath of the Partition. One of the most traumatic events in South Asian history, the Partition forms the basis of numerous literary and cinematic interpretations. Drawing on Hindi, English, Urdu and Punjabi fiction, it shows how gender is irrevocably woven into the idea of the nation and the politics of it. It focuses on the works of Saadat Hasan Manto, Rajinder Singh Bedi, Ismat Chughtai, Yashpal, Khushwant Singh, Abdullah Hussein, Mumtaz Shah Nawaz and Attia Hosain to delve into the horrors of the Partition, toward women in particular, and their representations in literary and cinematic imaginations. As an important contribution to the study of the Partition of India, this volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of literature, culture studies, film studies, politics, gender studies and South Asian studies. .

Prefaceby Sukrita Paul Kumar Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Historical Perspectives on the Partition 2. Gender and Nationalism 3. Fractured Vision of the Nation 4. Territorial Conceptualization: Woman and Nation in the Short story of the Partition 5. Walk across the border: Questioning stereotypes in Partition Cinema Conclusion Postscript Select Bibliography Index

Gauri Mishra is Associate Professor in the Department of English at the College of Vocational Studies, University of Delhi, India. She has been teaching English for the past three decades. Her research interests include Partition studies, women’s writing and film studies. She is the editor of the anthology Language through Literature (with Ranjana Kaul and Brati Biswas, 2016) and has coauthored (with Anu Satyal and Anuradha Bawa, 2020) Innovating Placements: Challenges and Changing Dynamics with the Industry which was the culmination of her Innovation project under the aegis of the University of Delhi. She has a poetry collection titled Reminiscences to her credit as well.