Divided: Partition Memoirs from Two Bengals

This book is a collection of translations of partition memoirs originally written in Bengali by partition-survivors located on both sides of the West Bengal-Bangladesh border. These memoirs engage with myriad issues ranging from identity crisis and psychosomatic disorder to experiences of living close to chars and of cow smuggling across the borders. The book has a long introduction that situates partition and border-making in the contexts of memory and forgiveness. While discussing the past in terms of a marine trope, it also introduces a new concept, namely, ‘buoyant memory,’ to account for the impossibility of forgiveness in the context of the sub-continental partition.