Abstract
This paper studies the notions of exile, nostalgia, return and nationalism in Nada Awar Jarrar’s novel A Goodland. The protagonist is undergoing a quest for both her personal and national identity. My analysis benefits from various theoretical insights. I refer to Ali Behdan’s concept of minor transnationalism. Behdad declares that “discourse of displacement is split into two schools: writers who ‘have valorized, if not romanticized, the seductive power of geographical displacement’ ” (Lionnet & Shu-mei 225) and others who “focus on the actual experiences of displacement, experiences that often entail a horrendous sense of homelessness, political and economic disenfranchisement, and even physical and psychological abuse” (226). This paper contends that Jarrar in her novel combines both: the valorized and the naturalist representations. Also, I resort to post-colonial theorists, such as Edward Said, Benedict Anderson and Salman Rushdie, and critics who deal with exile and nostalgia mainly, Boym and Spitzer. Last of all, I draw on Cooke’s concept of humanist nationalism and “Beirut Decentrists”. Jarrar, like the Beirut Decentrists, promotes collective consciousness, national identity, and nonviolence.
Recommended Citation
Balaa, Luma
(2015)
"Exile, Return and Nationalism in A Goodland,"
Antipodes: Vol. 29:
Iss.
1, Article 6.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/antipodes/vol29/iss1/6