Kaur, Pardeep2018-08-302024-08-142018-08-302024-08-142013Kaur, Pardeep (2013) Revisiting history and the question of idenity a comparative study of the shadow lines and tamas.http://10.2.3.109/handle/32116/1652Identity is the central issue in contemporary literary discourses. The reason behind such centrality lies in the identity crisis faced by individuals or groups due to political and historical movements. In the postmodern world, history is regarded as a process wherein the writing of history has become more central than the history itself. Literature is one of the tools through which history of a particular time gets representation and such representation of an era gives voice to the common people who are ignored in the metanarrative of national history. The aim of present research, a comparative study of Amitav Ghosh's The Shadow Lines and Bhisham Sahni's Tamas is to understand the nature of history and identity. Amitav Ghosh, the postmodernist Indian English writer has huge body of work to his credit; varying in travel essays, novels and historical non-fiction. The present novel deals with the issues of fragmented identities and histories based upon fragmented memories. Bhisham Sahni, a progressive Hindi writer and humanist gives realistic representation to the mid twentieth century India in his novel highlighting constructed divisions among different sections of the society and partition of the country as a consequence. The idea of 'voice to the voiceless' is materialised through relocating the subalterns in history. The comparative analysis has been carried out with an objective to trace the similar impact of dominant discourses upon human subjects. In both the novels, the passive subaltern is suffering and is ignored in official history. It is not about what is in history rather it is about what is missing in historyen-USHistoryIdentityBhisham SahniAmitav GhoshThe Shadow LinesTamasDiscoursePartitionViolenceRiotsMphil DissertationT00058