Reckoning with Inherited Memories in The Spirit of my Parents Keeps Rising in the Rain and A Passage North

• In Event: Memory and Postmemory in Post-Conflict South Asia and Latin America

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the violent legacies of the past in The Spirit of my Parents Keeps Rising in the Rain (2011) by the Argentine writer Patricio Pron and A Passage North (2021) by Sri Lankan author Anuk Arudpragasam through a comparative lens. Though set in different sociopolitical contexts of Argentina’s post-dictatorship era and Sri Lanka’s civil war landscape, both narratives follow male protagonists who return to their homelands to confront the lingering effects of political violence on personal and familial relationships. The paper examines how individual and collective experiences are negotiated from the perspective of protagonists who did not directly witness the violent events they seek to understand. The protagonists rely on inherited memories and critical narrative distance in order to bridge the gap between past violence and present identity, helping them to confront and reconcile with a past that continues to shape their lives. By placing these narratives in dialogue, the study highlights how the act of remembering and engaging with the past reveal both the persistence of unresolved histories and the ethical responsibilities of the next generation.

Author

• Ruchika Baid, University of Delhi