Ethical Memory and Politics of Trauma: A Critical Reading of Palpasa Café and Forget Kathmandu

Paudel, Devendra Sharma

Ethical Memory and Politics of Trauma: A Critical Reading of Palpasa Café and Forget Kathmandu

Abstract

This thesis analyses the cultural politicsofmemoryand trauma in Narayan Wagle'sPalpasa Caféand Manjushree Thapa’sForget Kathmandu.My argument is that Wagle and Thapa's memory of war is contaminated by the cultural ideologies. Their memory, thus, takes an ethical turn and becomes a part of the larger ideological politics. Theirnarrativazion of trauma–contaminatedby ideologyuses the language of demonization. The thesis argues that writer's authorities,editing and sensorship practices ultimately lead their literature of trauma that narrativizationto traumatic memory.Wagle uses largely against the Maoists inPalpasa Caféwhile Thapa does the same against the Napalese Army in Forget Kathmandu.