The Placelessness of Place-Bound Identity: A Postmodern Reading of Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Gravel Heart (2017)

Authors

  • Suraj Soni
  • Vipan Pal Singh

Abstract

The British novelist of Tanzanian origin, Abdulrazak Gurnah, attempts to recreate the place of a place-bound community, using characters who, for one or another, are either placeless or in search of some kind of grounding. The concept of ‘placeless’ existence in a geographical context is intertwined with an existence that cannot be structured, assigned values, or connected to certain purposes. Focusing on Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopia as a heuristic, this article offers a close reading of Gurnah’s Gravel Heart (2017), delving not only into the loss of a place-bound community, but also the disappearance of the community itself during and after the 1964 Zanzibar revolution. From this perspective, we reveal the way in which Gurnah’s work can be interpreted as worlds within worlds, placelessness, and non-homes. The revolution has turned single-place constructs, or utopia, into the proliferation of multiple incompatible spaces, or heterotopia. By considering the interpretations generated by the characters rooted in Zanzibar, this study explores the differentiation between the sense of placelessness vis-à-vis the 1964 post-independence revolution that legitimises its counterproductive nature in shaping the sociocultural landscapes. This analysis incorporates various juxtapositions, such as the interplay between materialism and productive/non-productive characters.

Author Biographies

  • Suraj Soni

    Dr Suraj Soni is an assistant professor of English in the School of Languages at the Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Dharamshala (Himachal Pradesh), India.

  • Vipan Pal Singh

    Dr Vipan Pal Singh is working as an Associate Professor in the Department of English, School of Languages, Literature & Culture, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda (Punjab), India

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Published

2025-06-03

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Articles