Cartography of Wounds

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Authors

Dhaliwal, Manpreet

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University of Guelph

Abstract

Treading the intersections of poetry, prose, confession and folktale, Cartography of Wounds investigates themes of intergenerational trauma, touch and grief while taking the reader through various cities in Canada, the US and India. After 14 years away, Simrin returns to her fractured family in Surrey, BC to care for her dying mother. Simrin spends her time going back and forth between the past and the present, navigating a history of violence, care and resentment from childhood alongside more recent intimacies with partners who were often transient and disappointing but provided moments of relief. As Simrin navigates this accumulated history, she retells a folktale about a Crow and a Sparrow. Crow also accompanies Simrin, guiding the narrative in ways that Simrin cannot. Based in the senses and told in fragments, Cartography of Wounds explores the ways we search for belonging in a world that too often tries to alienate and isolate.

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Keywords

diaspora, Punjabi, hybrid novel, novel, creative writing, queer, poetry, prose, South Asian, grief, intergenerational trauma

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