This paper examines the interwoven themes of memory, trauma, and identity in the novels of Tabish Khair, an acclaimed voice in contemporary postcolonial and diasporic literature. Khair's characters, often displaced across geographies and cultures, grapple with the burden of collective memory, the scars of trauma, and the complexities of hybrid identity. Through an analysis of works such as The Thing About Thugs (2010), Night of Happiness (2018), How to Fight Islamist Terror from the Missionary Position (2012), and Jihadi Jane (2016), this paper explores how Khair articulates the unresolved tension between memory and forgetting, personal agency and imposed identity, and the struggle to belong in an increasingly globalized and fractured world. The analysis foregrounds Khair's narrative techniques that challenge simplistic binaries and resist reductive stereotypes, offering nuanced reflections on marginality, alienation, and the search for selfhood.
Research Scholar, Dept. of English, J. P. University, Chapra, Bihar
