Intercultural Dialogue, Diaspora, and the Divided Self in Nasrallah's Canadian Fiction (2004)

Wisam Kh Abdul-Jabbar

doi:10.13169/arabstudquar.43.4.0320

Abstract

This article looks at the second part of Dimitri Nasrallah's novelBlackbodying(2004), which takes the form of an embedded novella, “Canadian Fiction.” This novella explores how an immigrant's traumatic diasporic experience silences intercultural dialogue in an inhospitable Toronto. Drawing on the conceptual framework of internalization, this study first examines the stigmatizing condition of the immigrant in exile, which projects a whimsical obsession with Heidi, a fictional woman, as a nostalgic object of desire. Second, the novella underpins the loss of real-life dialogue that disfigures Sameer's genuine pursuit of social integration. This study, therefore, argues that the loss of the ideal not only traps immigrants in a never-ending chase but also threatens their very capacity to recreate third space realities. Third, the study negates the often-romanticized meta-narrative of successful immigrants living in welcoming cities.

Highlights

This article mainly examines the second part of Dimitri Nasrallah’s novel Blackbodying (2004), which takes the form of an embedded novella, “Canadian Fiction,” written by the protagonist
“how external events shape our inner experience and how [. . .] the ‘outer’ world is perceived and integrated” (Wallis and Poulton, 2001: 1), this study explores the stigmatizing exilic condition of the immigrant figure, Sameer, that leads to his obsession with Heidi, a woman whose face he has never seen and whose voice he has never heard, as a nostalgic object
It is written in French, English and Arabic” (2002: 7–8). She noted that most Arab-Canadian writing between 1963 and 1974 was Francophone, produced by Arab-Québécois: They write plays or documentaries for Radio-Canada or Radio-Quebec; they are radioannouncers, film script writers (Nadia Ghalem), stage-directors (Mona Latif Ghattas) or write for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens (Anne Marie Alonzo). They contribute to newspapers, literary magazines and reviews [. . .] At least five of them teach in some capacity at L’universite du Quebec a Montreal (UQAM). (Dahab 2002, 8)

Summary

Introduction

This article mainly examines the second part of Dimitri Nasrallah’s novel Blackbodying (2004), which takes the form of an embedded novella, “Canadian Fiction,” written by the protagonist. This novella explores the unconscious manifestations of an immigrant’s traumatic diasporic condition. He lived with his family in Toronto, where he earned a bachelor’s degree from York University in 2001, and moved to Montreal, where he received a master’s degree from Concordia University in 2003 His first novel, Blackbodying, won the Quebec Writers’ Federation McAuslan First Book Prize, and his second, Niko (2011), won the Quebec Writers’ Federation Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction. The effects of the civil war in Lebanon are still felt in the form of memories or current events

Anglophone Arab Writers in Canada

Lebanese Anglophone Diasporic Literature

Findings

Conclusion