ECO-GOTHIC SUBLIME IN BINA SHAH’S BEFORE SHE SLEEPS: KARACHI HEAT-ISLAND AS MORTONIAN HYPER OBJECT

Abstract

In this case, Bina Shah offers us an example of eco-gothic through her 2018 novel Before She Sleeps, as a way of looking at contemporary South Asia at the intersection of environmental collapse and urban decay. This study explores the ways in which the Karachi heat-island phenomenon, an exacerbation of heat due to ongoing urbanization and climate change, is materializing as a hyper object in Shah in a Mortonian sense. Hyper object is a term coined by Timothy Morton and it refers to an immense environmental phenomenon that goes beyond the limits of human comprehension, which cannot be understood and exists deep in human life. In this article, I analyze Shah's use of eco-gothic tropes in relation to the heat-island effect, marking it as a specter that haunts both the narrative and the city, one which simultaneously possesses a palpable and ghostly presence over his characters. This qualitative paper contends that while the novel serves as a representation of the corporeal experiences of climate change, it also engages with the imaginings of the psyche and the existentialism of life in a climate changed world. The study employs close reading and discourse analysis in order to demonstrate that the novel presents Karachi's environmental crisis in a manner that transcends the dilemma of human agency versus environmental determinism. Thus, it adds to the increasing scholarship that connects current South Asian literature to eco-criticism.