The Tales from Lost Chronicles: Reconstructing History of Partition in Selected Pakistani Fiction

Abstract

Postmodernist evolution theorizes fluctuating homogeneity of meta-
narratives by stabilizing heterogeneity of mini-narratives. Partition of Sub-
continent has produced national histories to count the demographic details

of the tragic event. New historicists challenge the authenticity of historical
narratives through subjective representation. The present study explores how

partition event represented in meta-narratives, is reconstructed in mini-
narratives. To investigate this, Bapsi Sidhwa’s Ice Candy Man is selected as

partition fiction. The study is significant to observe that novels on the event
of India Pakistan partition have biased possibilities, thus, different
perspectives of the event provide multiple yet distinct perspectives of the
event from the writer’s side opinion. The study aims to show how selected
fiction depicts religion, altered history, and politics through shared symbols

of coexistence in the subcontinent. There is a gap in the exploration of Indo-
Pak novels as a means of displaying integration of shared existence. In the

light of New Historicism, I examine the gaps that are present in the Ice Candy
Man. From vantage point, this study provides an alternative lens to perceive
the uncertainties, and insecurities of unidentified people who experienced
the turmoil of partition and remained invisible in the historical
documentation. In so doing the study gauges the silence of history in
representation of the sacrifices of minorities. The selected fiction is
significant to highlight the untold and unknown heroic contribution of
Parsee community in the tragic event of Partition.