"This Was My Country-How Could It Not Be?": On the Significance of Travel in M. G. Vassanji's The In-Between World of Vikram Lall
學年 105
學期 1
出版(發表)日期 2016-12-01
作品名稱 "This Was My Country-How Could It Not Be?": On the Significance of Travel in M. G. Vassanji's The In-Between World of Vikram Lall
作品名稱(其他語言) 非我家園?:華山吉《維克蘭拉爾的中間世界》中旅行的意義
著者 Shizen Ozawa
單位
出版者
著錄名稱、卷期、頁數 Tamkang Review 47(1),頁121 - 141
摘要 M. G. Vassanji's The In-between World of Vikram Lall describes how the life of the eponymous protagonist, a third-generation Asian African, is affected by Kenya's independence struggle and its post-colonial aftermath. This essay analyses how this novel uses the motif of travel in order to explore the possibilities and difficulties for Asian Africans to make East Africa their true home. It is often through travel that the protagonist re-examines some facets of his "Kenyan" identity. This essay first explains how the novel reflects the historical particularities of Asian Africans in colonial East Africa, and how those particularities affect the protagonist's early life and his sense of belonging. It then discusses the significance of the trip his family takes when he is an eight-year-old boy, analysing how this journey allows him to bracket the instability of his identity and deepen his sense of geo-cultural belonging. Next, the journeys the adult protagonist undertakes in post-independent Kenya are examined. These trips function as occasions to reaffirm his sense of belonging to the country in spite of the deepening political corruption and his own involvement in it. Lastly, the essay explores the importance of Canada, where he hides himself after fleeing Kenya and writes the autobiography that constitutes most of the novel. The geo-cultural distance between Canada and Africa forces the protagonist to question his relationship with Kenya and ultimately makes him decide to go back to the country.
關鍵字 The In-Between World of Vikram Lall;M. G. Vassanji;Asian Africans;nationalism;travel;維克蘭拉爾的中間世界;華山吉;亞裔非洲人;國家主義;旅行
語言 en
ISSN 0049-2949
期刊性質 國內
收錄於 THCI Core
產學合作
通訊作者
審稿制度
國別 TWN
公開徵稿
出版型式 ,電子版,紙本
相關連結

機構典藏連結 ( http://tkuir.lib.tku.edu.tw:8080/dspace/handle/987654321/109750 )