A Heterotopic Reading of Robert Harris’s The Ghost

المؤلف

Dept. of English, Faculty of Arts, Helwan U

المستخلص

    The Spatial turn is an intellectual movement which focuses on place, space, and landscape; it marks an academic shift of interest in time to space. Until the first half of the twentieth century civilizations were mainly read and interpreted in terms of the temporal; history was considered as the main determent of major events. Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopia is part of his contribution to the Spatial turn movement. Unlike utopia, heterotopia is a real place which functions as a counter-site to the places where we live. It is the other space of different sorts of deviation. The present study attempts a Foucauldian heterotopic reading of Robert Harris’s political novel The Ghost (2007). The study is introduced by identifying the concept of heterotopia, and the six principles as contrived by Foucault. Then, it explores the geographical setting of the novel and its history. The kind of deviation which transforms the space into heterotopia is identified, focusing on its impact on the relationship between the protagonist as a political charisma and the demos.  The heterotopic principles of liminality, confinement, heterogeneity, and illusory nature are traced in the protagonist’s attempt to survive his political crisis. Finally, the study examines the mixed status of the protagonist by relating his current circumstance to Foucault’s heterotopic concept of heterochrony. The study concludes by making a prediction about the demos’ reaction to an exit from heterotopia without disclaiming deviation.

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