Keywords

transnationalism, migration, globalization

Abstract

Whereas the early works of South African/Scottish writer Zoë Wicomb delved into racial tensions caused by apartheid, her more recent works excavate diasporic tensions tied to present-day travel and transnationalism. In her 2009 short story collection The One That Got Away and her 2014 novel October, Wicomb presents a series of narratives in which Cape Town and Glasgow collide. In these narratives Wicomb gravitates toward the experiences of mostly middle-class immigrants and visitors, often in later stages of life, operating in the relatively established multiculturalism of today's South Africa and UK. The irony of present-day transnational mobility as Wicomb reveals it is that although returning "home" may rightly be viewed as a fulfillment of the dreams of diasporas past, being free to come and go globally does not necessarily translate into being able to do so entirely freely. It is far easier to "re-turn" when you don't actually have to return.

Original Publication Citation

Eastley, Aaron. "Diasporic Transnationalism in Zoë Wicomb's The One That Got Away and October." Research in African Literatures, vol. 48 no. 4, 2017, p. 155-174. Project MUSE, doi:10.2979/reseafrilite.48.4.11.