ABSTRACT
This essay asks how novels dealing with the silenced memories of the 1971 conflict represent the relationships between memory, narrative, and the shaping of personal and collective identities. A reading of Sorayya Khan’s novel Noor (2003) points out that the author seems to suggest that society needs to unearth private and public memories related to a war that opened up new identity issues. Developing critical narratives of what occurred in 1971 would allow new ways of thinking about national identity. Furthermore, a comparative reading of Noor and Kamila Shamsie’s Kartography (2002), allows discussion of how the two novels engage with the same issues.
