The Politics of Counterfocalization in Malla’sKumari Shova

Abstract

This dissertation is a critical discussion onVijay Malla’sKumari Shovaas an exposure of how the focalizer is influenced by the superstitiousbelief regarding ideology, race, and gender. On the surface, it seems that the focalizer represents new generation and is sympathetic towards the victims (Kumari Shova) and Upendra (her lover) but in fact the unrestricted narrator’s prejudice towards Living Goddess Kumari affects the focalization as he freely enters the minds of characters. This shows the focalizer's will to govern the characters by exercising his power over the focalized only from the superstitious perspective. We cannot even claim whether the focalizer and the focalized are as they are understood by thefocalizer; we cannot even claim whether it is the understanding of the focalizer only or it is the understanding of both focalizer as well as the writer. Therefore, Malla’sKumari Shov are quires counterfocalization from readers's sidethat can only justify the characters by analyzing the focalizer’s discursive form, which is guided by the particularities not only of space and time but also of gender, ethnic and sexual choice