Identity Amid Partition: The Study Of A Time Of Madness: A Memoir Of Partition

Abstract

The end of the British Raj in 1947 resulted in India's truncation, with Muslims and Hindus seeking different "homes". This catastrophic event was not only a religious event on the basis of the Two-Nation Theory for the inhabitants of both sides, but it also shattered the nation's cultural weave of plurality, that was painstakingly knitted over generations. The major factor identification and the ensuing violence that erupted across the country created a seismic zone of uncertainty. Men, women, and children were all victims of recurring violence at this time and experienced violence and terrible outcomes. The literary work in this research is Salman Rashid's memoir A Time of Madness: A Memoir of Partition. The research paper shall be divided into two sections: the first will be the critical study of the work, and the second will be an analysis of the segregation of 'self' and 'other' experienced by Rashid himself. The research shall be analysed through the lens of literary theories such as the Concept of Imagined Communities, Trauma theory and Erich Fromm's Psychoanalyze and Soziologie.