Abstract
The paper selects the novel Palpasa Café (2005) by Nepali author Narayan Wagle to highlight the factors that contributed to the Maoist insurgency and counter-insurgency that punctured the Nepali consciousness. It will also critique Eurocentric trauma theory for diminishing the South Asian perspectives of trauma (incidents) from the main discourse of trauma theory. In addition, the paper will explore the detrimental impacts of war and conflict as experienced by Nepalese cops and civilians together, and its long-lasting imprint on their psyche as manifested in different forms of trauma in the text. The dissemination of the 'inarticulable trauma' concept into something comprehensible and representable is promulgated by Wagle in the Nepali context. Nepal has experienced extensive exposure to militarised warfare, bloodshed, conflict of power, and environmental catastrophe in the myriads of forms that engender the rise of literature on trauma. It has witnessed the repugnance of a long-decade-continued Civil War (1996-2006) between Maoists and the Monarch which wreaked havoc on the country and its people.
Recommended Citation
Singh, Sujit K., and Ayushi Jaiswal.
"Catastrophe of War."
Critical Humanities
2,
2
(2024).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33470/2836-3140.1030
Included in
English Language and Literature Commons, South and Southeast Asian Languages and Societies Commons