Creative Writing and Mental Health of Partition Writers

This book explores the lives and works of two eminent writers of India – Bhishm Sahni and Joginder Paul – both of whom moved to India following the 1947 Partition and wrote significant creative works on the theme. Through the life story analysis of the writers’ lives and works using the constructivist grounded theory method, this book attempts a social constructionist understanding of suffering, including the trauma of Partition, in the lives of the writers. Based on the findings about creative writers’ experiences of suffering and healing, the book also contributes to theoretical and mental health rehabilitation-related concerns for creative persons as well as common human beings who have survived historical trauma, such as the 1947 Partition of India. It highlights the ways in which the drastically changed socio-political context, economic hardships, family roles and relationships, besides personal and relational conflicts, shaped writers’ experiences of suffering. Another unique contribution of this study is the insights it provides about creativity as a reflexive experiential space for relating compassionately to human suffering of common human beings, gathering moral courage to accept and reinterpret conflicts. The book marks a unique contribution to mental health in the context of socio-political disasters such as the 1947 partition of India. It is one of its kind in terms of explicating the relationship between mental health and the process of creative writing by (a) providing an experience-near understanding of the impact of Partition on mental health, and (b) bringing out the potential within the creative space for restoration of mental health among creative writers. This book will be useful to students, researchers, and teachers from the fields of literature, creative writing, medical humanities, qualitative research, trauma studies, mental health, healing, psychology, sociology, and anthropology.