'I didn't bring my heart with me' : Unfeeling as a mode of resistance in Abdulrazak Gurnah's Afterlives.

Abstract

This retelling of a Swahili fable is a cautionary tale, exposing the potential dangers of offering wholehearted support to a colonial regime while also subtly advocating for ‘heartlessness’ as a mode of survival. ‘Don’t you think that was a clever little monkey?’, Khalifa asks the protagonist Ilyas. The story suggests that, when faced with abuses of power, Ilyas might learn not to ‘bring his heart’ with him; to be disaffected, or ‘unfeeling’.

Keywords

Unfeeling, Afterlives, Abdulrazak Gurnah

How to Cite

Mathers, A., (2022) “'I didn't bring my heart with me' : Unfeeling as a mode of resistance in Abdulrazak Gurnah's Afterlives.”, Moveable Type 14(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.14324/111.1755-4527.138

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Alisha Mathers (Universities of Southampton and Bristol)

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0

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This article has been peer reviewed.

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