This study examines how Lebanese-Canadian authors Rawi Hage and Dimitri Nasrallah negotiate migration, memory, exile, and questions of identity in contemporary Canadian literature. Focusing on Hage’s “Cockroach” and Nasrallah’s “Hotline”, it explores how experiences of war, displacement, trauma, and cultural transition shape narrative strategies, character development, and the search for belonging.
The book situates both novels within the wider contexts of Canadian Muslim Writing, postcolonial literature, and transnational fiction. It shows how Lebanese-Canadian writing contributes to current debates on diaspora, hybridity, survival, social exclusion, and the ambivalent promise of multicultural Canada.
By bringing together literary analysis and cultural context, this study highlights the significance of Lebanese-Canadian voices within modern CanLit and asks how literature can give form to lives marked by loss, movement, memory, and the difficult construction of a new home.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Muslim writing and Canadian Muslim writing – a survey
3. Rawi Hage`s Cockroach (2008) – an introduction
4. Dimitri Nasrallah`s Hotline (2022) – an introduction
5. Outlook
6. Bibliography
Objectives and Core Themes
This work explores the emergence and narrative strategies of Lebanese-Canadian authors within the broader context of Canadian Muslim Writing, examining how these writers navigate themes of migration, memory, identity, and the hybrid experience. The study focuses on the intersection of trauma, social criticism, and the shifting representations of Muslim identity in contemporary literature.
- The impact of post-9/11 discourses on the representation of Muslim identities in Canadian literature.
- The role of the "postcolonial city" and urban space in shaping immigrant narratives and feelings of displacement.
- Narrative techniques such as the flashback and hybrid characterization used to balance past trauma and present reality.
- The intersectionality of race, class, gender, and religious background in defining the Lebanese-Canadian diaspora experience.
Excerpt from the Book
4. Dimitri Nasrallah`s Hotline (2022) – an introduction
Hotline is a novel which reflects the life of Muna Heddad who has to leave Lebanon with her son due to the death of her husband.He was killed during the civil war and she had to escape Lebanon because there was no future for her. Being able to speak and teach French she decided to go to Canada with her son Omar. Quebec becomes her new home. Since her language degree ist not accepted there she desperately tries to find a job. She finally gets one as a hotline operator. Despite the fact that she is alone,stressed and above all traumatized she helps her callers with their personal hurdles.
The novel is of semi-biographic since it resembles Nasrallah`s mother who immigrated to Montreal in the 1980s.Hotline is a moving portrayal of an immigrant family to Canada stressing the situation of a single Lebanese woman who has lost all, nation, home, family and male protection because of her dead husband.
Chapter Summaries
1. Introduction: This chapter outlines the historical and political context of Canadian Muslim Writing, specifically addressing how post-9/11 developments pushed writers to create more authentic and complex portrayals of Muslim existence.
2. Muslim writing and Canadian Muslim writing – a survey: This section investigates the theoretical framework of "migrant writing" and how Canadian Muslim authors utilize literature as a platform for "writing back" against stereotypes and societal dilemmas.
3. Rawi Hage`s Cockroach (2008) – an introduction: This chapter analyzes the novel as a work of failure and exile, focusing on the protagonist's hybrid existence and the symbolic use of the cockroach to represent the immigrant experience in a hostile Canadian environment.
4. Dimitri Nasrallah`s Hotline (2022) – an introduction: This section explores how the novel portrays the immigrant experience through a single mother's perspective, balancing memory of the Lebanese civil war with the harsh realities of life in Canada.
5. Outlook: The conclusion synthesizes the findings, arguing that Lebanese-Canadian writers serve as critical mediators who challenge the dichotomy between East and West while asserting their place in the Canadian literary narrative.
6. Bibliography: Lists the primary and secondary sources consulted for the research.
Keywords
Migration, Memory, Identity, Canadian Literature, Muslim Writing, Lebanese-Canadian, Diaspora, Hybridity, Trauma, Postcolonialism, Civil War, Exile, Displacement, Social Criticism, Multiculturalism.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this research?
The research examines the narrative strategies of Lebanese-Canadian authors, focusing on how they articulate the experiences of migration, diaspora, and the complexities of holding multiple identities in a Canadian context.
What are the primary thematic areas explored?
The work covers themes such as war-related trauma, the search for belonging, the rejection of binary stereotypes (East vs. West), and the role of identity within the Canadian "ethnic mosaique."
What is the main research objective?
The study aims to demonstrate that Lebanese-Canadian writing is an essential, independent element of contemporary Canadian literature that provides critical perspectives on social justice and power dynamics.
Which scientific methods or approaches are employed?
The author uses a literary analysis approach, drawing on postcolonial theories (Said, Bhabha, Foucault) to analyze the narrative techniques and representational shifts in the chosen novels.
What is covered in the main body of the work?
The main body includes a broad survey of Canadian Muslim Writing and a detailed comparative study of Rawi Hage's "Cockroach" and Dimitri Nasrallah's "Hotline" as case studies of these themes.
Which keywords best characterize this work?
Key terms include Diaspora, Hybridity, Postcolonialism, Lebanese-Canadian literature, and the "in-between" status of immigrants.
How does the author define the "hybridity" of the characters in the novels?
Hybridity is presented as a complex, often painful state of existing between national and cultural backgrounds, where characters must constantly renegotiate their identities in a country that is often perceived as both hospitable and hostile.
How does 9/11 function as a pivotal event in the analysis?
9/11 is identified as a "push factor" that fundamentally changed the landscape of Muslim writing, triggering a move toward more internal, authentic representations and a direct confrontation with the political consequences of war and Islamophobia.
- Quote paper
- Matthias Dickert (Author), 2026, Migration, Memory and Matters of Identity, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1722317
