Abstract

The paper analyzes Hanif's Red Birds (2018) with the lens of Postcolonial magical realism. Magical realism accounts for the presence of magical characters or events in a realistic setting. As per the postcolonial magical realism, the technique is employed to deconstruct the colonial representation and narrative regarding an idea and to bring forth an unsung, unknown, native narrative to the front. The paper uses narrative analysis technique and investigates the role of setting and the depiction of war-torn region in the novel, Red Birds (2018). The paper concludes substantiating the role of magical realism to render a rigid critique and presenting the untold and unseen picture of the colonized as well as that of colonizer’s perspective of war and its aftermaths.

Keywords: Magical realism, Postcolonialism, Post-war, Red Birds, Mohammed Hanif