In-between Two Worlds: Time, Place and Language in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Selected Novels

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Associate Professor of Cultural Sociology, Department of Social Sciences, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran.

Abstract

Post-colonial reading looks at the description and analysis of literary works from a different window than the mainstream literature and science. From this theoretical approach, the works of Abdulrazak Gurnah contain important Factors that represent and describe the two worlds of the West and the East in different ways. To examine these Factors, five novels of Gurnah have been analyzed in this article. These stories are illustrative examples for the world of Gurnah’s writing and stories. To analyze the texts, I have used the categories of time, place, and language as ‘moments’ that articulate this world. The analysis shows that these variables have affected the content and theme, of his stories in different ways, of course with differences in quantity and quality. Despite the difference in the description of the two worlds that Gurnah has dealt with, with the passage of time his stories have tended towards globalization. The attitudes of these texts are mainly placed in an ‘in-between’ space and are not necessarily placed on one side of the border. In general, despite the relatively more positive representation of the western world, Gurnah has fulfilled his mission in raising the voice of subalterns to some extent.

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References

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Critical Literary Studies
Volume 8, Issue 1 - Serial Number 15
October 2025
Pages 177-194

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History

  • Receive Date: 17 February 2025
  • Revise Date: 08 August 2025
  • Accept Date: 23 September 2025

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