The Journey in Hisham Matar’s The Return: Between Freedom and Confinement

Abstract

The paper explores how Hisham Matar’s journey in his 2016 memoir, The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between. In the book, Matar undertakes a journey back to his homeland in Libya to uncover the truth of what happened to his father, who was targeted by the Gaddafi regime during the sixties and was subsequently imprisoned for 20 years. While the memoir primarily focuses on the journey “back” to Matar’s homeland in Libya, the memoir’s depiction of “home” problematizes the concept, raising questions about its limitations beyond being merely geographical. Therefore, home becomes elusive and not necessarily at all feasible altogether. Matar’s journey across continents foregrounds the contestation of boundaries. The oscillation between confinement and freedom overshadows the family’s journey that seems to involuntarily revolve around finding a home. This struggle is also connected to the relentless attempts to find the father before finally deciding to go back to Libya. With the ongoing struggle in searching for the father who was abducted before his imprisonment, the father himself becomes a metaphoric border. Reading the memoir, the reader senses that this overshadowing presence of the father’s legacy is juxtaposed with his perpetual absence signaling both a struggle to find the father and escape him. The interplay between freedom and imprisonment becomes intricately woven with the poetics of the journey and ultimately offers a narrative that defies victimhood and foregrounds agency.