The impossibility of leaving
Queer migration and Shyam Selvadurai's The Hungry Ghosts
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2179282 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Humaira Saeed (0000-0001-8333-3481) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 55 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 337-351 |
| Publication date | 2019-05-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Postcolonial Writing (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1744-9855 • E-ISSN: 1744-9863 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17449855.2019.1617975 |
| OpenAlex | W2956219267 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 14 |
This article argues that Shyam Selvadurai's 2013 novel The Hungry Ghosts is beholden to a number of myths that locate the text within the concerns of queer migration studies. The protagonist Shivan is invested in the mythological promises of the west and of wealth as offering him sexual freedom and recognition, yet these commitments mean he fails to see the contextual and political specificities that cause harm both to himself and to those around him. This article critiques the novel's conclusion by arguing that its investment in fate is a tool through which the effects of oppressive systems are elided, and the queer migrant is rendered a doomed subject
Aesthetics · Art · Harm · Impossibility · Literature · Mythology · Political science · Politics · Queer · Sociology · Subject (documents · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Computer Science · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies · Gender Studies · Law
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |