Exile as a Spatial Metaphor in the Postcolonial Short Story

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine how the theme of exile embedded in spatial metaphors is taken up in the postcolonial short story. I will begin by contextualizing the postcolonial short story, its characteristic features and major themes. My argument will focus on in what way and why the theme of exile is an important issue in postcolonial literature and on the manifestations of the exile theme as a metaphor of space in the short story genre. The role of space will also be discussed within this context since it is firmly bound to the idea of postcolonialism in its literary, psychological and sociological sense. My argument will be illustrated through stories by representative postcolonial writers whose works display a distinctly “post-colonial” concern with the theme of exile. © 2019 Ovidius University. All rights reserved.