LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 14:5 May 2014
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Historic Perspective in River Of Fire

Dr. Saman Saif

Abstract

Qurratulain Hyder’s River of Fire is a unique blend of history and fiction. The depiction of history in her novel reflects the contemporary theories of known historians like Oswald Spengler and Toynbee who believed in the cyclical nature of growth and decline of civilizations. Hyder too projects in her novel the changing face of history and the collective consciousness of man. Spengler and Toynbee observed the eternal laws which guarantee flux and permanence. Hyder shows this pattern and its continual enactment in the way exploiters become victimizers and vice-versa. She seeks to bring clarity in an otherwise chaotic order by reinterpreting the past. The ravages of history do not seem to leave a lasting memory. The repetition of the cyclical nature of history brings forth Hyder’s intense historic orientation.

Choice of Facts and History

This essay aims at exploring the theoretical perspectives of history woven in the narration of Qurratulain Hyder’s River of Fire and her choice of facts, their presentation and interpretation. In River of Fire the blend of history with fiction reflects Eliot’s view of history as ‘rediscovered consciousness’. Her view of the cyclical nature of time enables her to present the collective consciousness of man legitimizing her historic perception. The reader observes the eternal laws which guarantee order and permanence. Nietzsche and Spengler’s belief that man’s greatness lies in accepting the inevitable cycle of birth and death is reflected in Hyder’s narration. The principle of cycles in Toynbee and Spengler is also seen in Hyder’s work whose sense of history is bound up with a sense of humanism in which freedom is an intrinsic necessity.

Collapse and Rejuvenation

Hyder’s narration embraces both collapse and rejuvenation as a pattern of history. This phenomenon is especially prominent in the portrayal of the rise and decline of Lucknow before and during the period of British colonialism. The cyclical historic pattern is projected when Hyder shows how the right-minded people become exploiters when they gain power. In Hyder’s novel the changing face of history is seen against the unchanging impulse to control vs. the desire to be free and the continuous enactment of this cycle. The exodus of Hindus and Muslims during the Partition is likened to the displacement of Jews and Palestinians. To bear the pain of exile, history is invoked for consolation. Benedict Anderson’s explanation of history as an endless chain of cause and effect is felt in Hyder’s personal experience and in her novel, River of Fire.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Dr. Saman Saif
Department of English
Fatima Jinnah Women University
Rawalpindi
Pakistan
samansaif@hotmail.com
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