THE CITY: A PLACE FOR REINVENTION
THE CITY: A PLACE FOR REINVENTION

Summary/Abstract: In Hanan al-Shaykh’s 2001 novel Only in London, four characters from very different national, social, sexual and cultural backgrounds are thrown together on a flight from Dubai to London where their stories of migration, exile, loss and escape intersect and intertwine. In this city scape, the characters negotiate new ‘selves’ breaking out of the stereotypical roles their cultures had required of them. In this fluid and multi-layered world, their dreams of reinvention are played out highlighting new images of the heterogeneity of Arab cultures. This paper will investigate how the city and the characters interact allowing spaces for new identities to develop in, on one level a bordered and defined area of streets and buildings but on another level, a dynamic and fluid environment.

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