Textualizing Mud: Disaster Narrative in Ishii Yūka's Hundred Years Mud

Hundred Years Mud (2018) by Ishii Yūka engages with Chennai floods of 2015. Declared as ‘Disaster Zone’, heavy rains and the ensuing floods caused large scale destruction and disrupted everyday life, bringing the city to halt. The narrator, a Japanese language instructor in an IT company in Chennai, witnessed the calamity. However, it was the mud on the bridge of Adyar river which caught her attention. She imagines locating items from her past inside the mud, evoking nostalgia and inciting memories. Hence, the present paper explores Hundred Years Mud drawing from the analysis of Disaster Narrative. It further delves into exploring the symbolization of ‘mud’ as a literary device, and examines its role as a crucial narrative tool defining human emotions.