HAUNTOLOGICAL ECHOES: ANALYZING SPECTRAL PRESENCE AND MEMORY IN SORAYYA KHAN'S NOOR

Abstract

This thesis explores the intergenerational transmission of trauma in Sorayya Khan’s novel Noor (2003), using Jacques Derrida’s theory of Hauntology and Marianne Hirsch’s concept of Postmemory as critical frameworks. Set against the backdrop of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, the novel portrays the lingering psychological and emotional aftermath of violence through the characters of Ali, Sajida, and Noor. Noor, born with cognitive disabilities, becomes a conduit for repressed memories and inherited trauma, despite not experiencing the war herself. Through her art, she evokes the silent history of her mother and grandfather. The study investigates how unresolved guilt, haunting memories, and suppressed grief persists across generations, disrupting linear time and reshaping personal and collective identities. By engaging with spectral presences and inherited affect, the thesis argues that trauma is not confined to individual experience but echoes through familial and national narratives. This research contributes to trauma literature by examining how fiction narrativizes postwar haunting and memory.