Scars of Partition and the Inheritance of postmemory in Kanza Javed’s Ashes, Wine, and Dust

Abstract

The study tends to explore transgenerational trauma, employing Marianne Hirsch’s Postmemory (2012) as an interpretative lens to analyze the traces of trauma in Kanza Javed’s Ashes, Wine and Dust (2015). This study exhibits the navigation of the partition trauma inter-generationally and its transgression into familial memories through Javed’s debut novel. The idea of postmemory and intergenerational trauma is demonstrated through Mariam’s character, who is struggling with the traumatic inherited memories, as her grandparents survived the Indo-Pak partition and are still haunted by memories of the violence and displacement. By using a theoretical framework such as Postmemory, the study provides new insights into the intergenerational transmission of trauma and its effects on individual and collective memory. The study also examines the resistance strategies adopted by various characters in the text to combat the partition trauma. Many characters internalized this trauma, while Mariam chose to move to the USA in an attempt to escape from the traumatic memories of the past. The article contributes to the understanding of postmemory trauma in the partition narrative of Pakistani Anglophone Literature and highlights the need for future research on the diaspora as an impact of transgenerational partition trauma.

Keywords: Migration, Partition, Postmemory, Trauma