English Article , Representation of Women as a Symbol of Courage in Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai’s Sur Sassue: A New Historicist approach

Abstract

Bhittai’s significant portion of poetry, Sur Sassue is a remarkable representation of women as a symbol of courage. In Sur Sassue, the poet depicts endeavor of a woman that she does to bring stability in different cultures. The poet speaks about a steadfast lady having controversial birth, raised by Sindhi-launderer at Bhanbhor named Sassue. A man of Katch-Makran,  Punhoon visits Bhanbhor for trade purpose and marries Sussui secretly. Afterwards, not informing Sassui, Punhoon’s brothers bring him back. Knowing this, Sassue runs bare-footed in vain to search Punhoon, her unconditional love. This research paper attempts a Textual Analysis of Sur Sassue (1866) with New Historicism as a theoretical Framework. Greenblatt’s theory of New Historicism (1980), as an evaluative exercise, tries to join a literary work with the period in which it was composed. The theory denies that the literary work always remains a work of Literature. The paper attempts to analyze the social and cultural context of Sur Sassui and at the same time the textual analysis of text in the form of history. Specially, it explores the representation of women (Sassue) in discursive manner. The study argues that through the poetry with respect to New Historicism, Shah has asserted woman a sign of determination through his poetic genius.