Remapping A Cosmopolitan East Afr Ica:On The Landscape In Paradise

As the masterpiece of Abdulrazak Gurnah,Paradise is a novel that unfolds in the landscape.The author’s excellent portrayal of the landscape graces the culture and society of pre-colonial East Africa.The landscape encompasses a wide range of meaningful extensions.The unique geographical location and history of East Africa link the text to the continents of Africa,Asia,and Europe and nurture the spirit of cosmopolitanism.Taking landscape as theoretical support and the object of analysis,combining it with cosmopolitan concerns,this thesis intends to examine the cosmopolitan crises in East Africa,their roots,and possible solutions,and interpret the author’s imagination of pre-colonial East Africa.The first chapter analyzes the manifestations of the cosmopolitan crises masked in the landscape.Boundaries are the general characteristic of crises.First,the coastal people observe the interior with predatory eyes,while the interior communities resist the trickery from the coast with hostility.Landscape is the embodiment of confrontations between communities.Second,the landscape is divided by those in power out of their interests and externalizes the power oppression.The boundaries encountered by spectators are demonstrated by their exclusion from the landscape.Third,the landscape of the walled garden walls off desire,reflecting the ambiguity and anxiety of "rootless" identity.The second chapter probes into the roots of the cosmopolitan crises as revealed by the landscape.Mobility in landscape facilitates analysis from three perspectives:the motivation to move,the method of communication,and the immediate results of movement.To begin with,the caravan trading system and the German invasion are manifestations of globalization.However,globalization implies a landscape of treating the other in a predatory and dominant manner.The alienated perception and treatment of the other inevitably lead to conflicts and crises.Next,as the caravan trade moves,the violence in landscape is exposed as catalyst for confrontation and anxiety.Thirdly,the boundaries of landscape overlap in the movement.Consequently,the identity established by the landscape cannot be realized,thus leading to a crisis of individual identity,which results in anxiety.The third chapter elucidates the solutions embedded in the landscape.In the first place,the landscape suggests that exchange could be built on conditional hospitality,retaining subjectivity while paying the price accordingly.It ensures the acceptance of Self for Other,thus mitigating the intense conflicts and implying the possibility of smooth operation.In the second place,the landscape enables spectators to recognize reality,establish their own identity,eliminate the spiritual dilemma of "rootlessness"and regenerate themselves.Finally,the characters pursue the horizon in the structure of the landscape,i.e.,break the shackles of power and explore the unknown.Although the myth of paradise are seemingly disillusioned,it summons the spirit of exploration of the world.In conclusion,the manifold writing of the landscape is the remarkable feature of Paradise.Gurnah bypasses the romanticized narratives or ambiguous post-colonial writing.Instead of entangling himself in fossilized issues,he experiments with the active construction of a new relationship within a cosmopolitan vision.In regard to the crises and contradictions encountered by cosmopolitanism,Gurnah reveals the causes explicitly or implicitly through writing landscape.Meanwhile,he envisions the operation of the relationship between Self,Other and World,reconstructing a vista for the realization of individual rebirth and the exploration of the unknown.In this sense,Gurnah re-maps a promising cosmopolitan East Africa.