This book investigates the possible interventions of literary and cinematic fictions into the politics and reception of social suffering. The term ‘social suffering’ here refers to a broader set of traumatic phenomena in South Asia. It covers a realm of painful experience–from the beginning of the twentieth century-associated with the loss and distress of social and political crises. Focusing on Central Events such as the Partition of 1947, the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984, and more recent conflicts between India and Pakistan, Nagappan demonstrates the differing ways that narratives engage the political violence that has marked the last fifty years of South Asian history. The author discusses Amitav Ghosh’s modernist novel The Shadow Lines, Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance, the short stories of Saadat Hasan Manto, Salman Rushdie’s Postmodernist Novel Shame, and the films of Mani Ratnam. These works confront the ethical dilemmas posed by representations of the catastrophes and innumerable tragedies that arise from clashes among religious and ethnic communities. In his compassionate engagement with these concerns, he establishes the relevance of literature and literary studies to fundamental sociological, anthropological, and political issues. Interdisciplinary in scope, the book will be useful to students and scholars of sociology, postcolonial studies, cultural studies, literature, and film studies.
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