Water Under the Bridge: A Novel (Exegesis: Remembering Torture: Survivor Narratives of the 1987-90 Insurgency in Sri Lanka)

Abstract

The research consists of a historically-informed work of fiction and a dissertation situated in the political emergency in Sri Lanka during 1987-90. The fiction is anchored in five intersectional narratives that represent the emergence of violence and its reception in two villages in the Kandy district of the Central Province. The narratives read as retrospective biographies and are built on the presences and absences in storied memories. The project is informed by Michael Rothberg's theory of 'multidirectional memory' and the emphasis Rothberg places on narrative modalities that go beyond conventional realist and anti-realist modes in narrating trauma: 'traumatic realism'.

In its exegesis, the study focuses on the representation of torture camps in published survivor narratives during the emergency. Focused on the work of three survivors - Victor Gunathilake, Ajith Perakum Jayasinghe, and Rohitha Munasinghe - the discussion explores the survivor narrative as a counter-history that challenges privileged narratives of pro-establishment literature. While the study explores the processes through which victims of torture work-through their incarceration experiences to foster a critical balance and distance to narrate past trauma, it also understands the role of such narratives in post-conflict restoration.