https://doi.org/10.67147/literariness.v1i2.055
Mnemonic Spatial Negotiations in The Legends of Khasak and On the Banks of River Mayyazhi: A Study of Post-Colonial Place-Memory
RINI JOY
Research Scholar, Department of English
Sree Shankaracharya University of Sanskrit Kalady, Kerala
Abstract: Memory and space are the basic available resources that a freshly decolonised land works upon to build its new free image. This paper argues that the postcolonial literary narratives of Kerala engage in a dialectical “double movement” of memory, navigating the trauma of colonial history and the uncertainties of independence. Through a comparative analysis of The Legends of Khasak and On the Banks of River Mayyazhi, and framed by Maurice Halbwachs’ theory of collective memory, this study shows how these two novels dramatically represent two distinct poles of mnemonic negotiation and how these poles are linked.
The Legends of Khasak engages in a project of foundational memory, spatializing oral traditions and myth within the sacred cosmos of the village to forge an insulated, pre-colonial identity. In contrast, On the Banks of River Mayyazhi performs a work of contra-present memory, deconstructing the colonial spatial framework of Mahé to reveal the fragility and fragmentation of identity once its authoritative myth erodes. Together, these texts exemplify how Kerala’s complex psychological shift constantly forms a dialogue that oscillates between the desire for sacred stability and an acknowledgement of postcolonial fragmentation.
Keywords: Foundational Memory, Contra-present memory, Space, Place, Post-colonial
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