A Postmodern Psychoanalytic Critique of Narrative Disruptions and Subversions in Dalit and Post-apocalyptic Narratives: A Comparative Study

Abstract

This research study investigates narrative disruptions and subversions in Dalit and post-apocalyptic literature using a postmodern psychoanalytic methodology. Drawing on the concepts of Jacques Lacan and Homi K. Bhabha, the research argues that these literary genres use language and plot to subvert and disrupt dominant power structures, social hierarchies and hegemonic discourses. The study examines a few works of Dalit and post-apocalyptic fiction to show how both genres use narrative methods such as fragmentation, irony, parody and subversion to question established standards of representation and disclose the traumas and disjunctions of the oppressed. The voice of the oppressed is explicit through the analysis of the selected texts.