"Space Forms Where No Space Was" - A Study of Spectrality, Liminality, and Cultural Haunting through the Ghost Narrator in Amit Majmudar's Partitions.

Ms. Vasumathi S , Dr. Poornamathi Meenakshi T

Cultural Haunting, Liminality, Memory, Partition, Spectrality.

This paper explains the concepts of spectrality, cultural haunting, and liminality as manifested through the ghost narrator in the novel Partitions by Amit Majmudar. The story is set against the backdrop of a monumental event in geopolitical history - the Partition of India, which led to a mass exodus in the history of human civilization and claimed the lives and homes of millions of people. The spectral figure of the ghost is employed to explore the immediate and enduring impact of the partition of India and its resulting historical trauma on cultural memory and identity. Drawing on the concept of Hauntology by Derrida, this study argues that the spectral presence of the ghost narrator acts as a witness to the event of partition as it unfolds in real-time thereby also foreshadowing the lasting impact the catastrophe will have on the collective consciousness. The liminal existence of the ghost narrator straddling the boundaries of life and death, present and past, and also presence and absence spotlights the ambivalent and transitional nature of memory. Through the analysis of the narrator as a liminal specter and spectator who experiences and transmits the memory of Partition, the paper throws light on the author's attempt at capturing the cultural haunting that continues to shape the identity of the people. This paper ultimately tries to position the specter as a vital narrative figure, embodying the spectral and haunting legacies of the Partition which resonate to this day. Thus, the paper justifies Dr. Avishek Parui's theoretical framework that literature acts as a production of possibilities, where matter and metaphor converge to produce persistent echoes of cultural memory.

Volume 13 Issue 11, November-2025

Pages : g943-g948