A Critical Study of the Failure of Revival and the Degeneration of Essence in Urdu Short Story ‘Kaya Kalap’

اُردو افسانے "کایا کلپ " میں احیا کی ناکامی اور زوالِ ماہیت کا تنقیدی مطالعہ

Abstract

Intizar Hussain is one of the most prominent writers in the history of Urdu Literature. His short story, Kaya Kalap, critically examines the cultural and spiritual trauma following the partition. This research article argues that Intizar Hussain deploys mythological and historical allusions as fractured registers reflecting the disintegration of collective memory. Utilizing Postcolonial and Trauma theories, this analysis demonstrates the story’s title “Metamorphosis” is a profound ironic inversion. Instead of spiritual renewal, the narrative delineates communal decay and psychic fragmentation. The culmination of this trauma is narrative ambiguity and complete subjective fragmentation, proving that civilizational memory is incapable of ethical restoration.