REIMAGINING THE POSTHUMOUS WOMANHOOD IN THE POSTMODERN LANDSCAPE OF JAVERI’S NOBODY KILLED HER

Abstract

In South Asian fiction, the demise of female characters is not just the end of an individual’s story, but rather the beginning of a new political, cultural and symbolic narrative. This study is an attempt to examine how deceased women are presented as “heroines”, “martyrs” or “national symbols". Their 'personality driven' aspect and challenging quest for affirming self-worth are subsumed into a collective narrative that deprives them of individual identity. The death of Rani Shah in Sabyn Javeri’s novel Nobody Killed Her and the political status she is designated thereafter is an illustration of a process where the identity of a woman is given “meaning” in her death rather than in her life. The study features the point that the framing of departed women in politically advantageous narratives is a process that not only perpetuates patriarchy but also makes the active role of women a relic of the past.  This analysis is conducted within the context of bio politics, gender performativity and postcolonial feminism to grasp how women's deaths are “used for political gain”. The following research ascertains varying aspects of South Asian literature that have so far been less discussed at the global level. It brings out the subtle relationships among literature, politics and womanhood.