Books by Michael Perfect
London is one of the most diverse cities in human history. While its multicultural character has ... more London is one of the most diverse cities in human history. While its multicultural character has been widely celebrated in recent decades – by writers of fiction as much as by anyone – more recently multiculturalism has been said to have ‘failed’, or to have never really existed in the first place. How have recent works of fiction engaged with London’s multiculturalism, and could that multiculturalism itself be regarded as a kind of ‘fiction’?
This study analyses a number of key contemporary texts that engage with questions about ethnic and cultural diversity in London. It argues that in recent years the most successful and engaging works of literature about the city have attempted to assert its diversity as undeniable whilst also challenging the notion that London is an inclusive utopia which offers sanctuary and prosperity to its migrants.
Journal Articles and Book Chapters by Michael Perfect
ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature 53: 1-2 (2022), 257-291, 2022
This article explores projects which Andrea Levy worked on in her final years but which did not c... more This article explores projects which Andrea Levy worked on in her final years but which did not come to light during her lifetime. Drawing extensively on material found in Levy's personal archive, it considers the form, scope, aims, and qualities of these works. It also reflects on some links between them, as well as how they relate to her published oeuvre. In particular, this article highlights the politically engaged nature of much of Levy's late unpublished work. The first part of the article explores material from Levy's archive relating to a possible sixth novel. This is followed by a detailed discussion of the project in which Levy came to be most invested during her final years: a documentary television series on the historical relationship between Britain and the Caribbean. In collaboration with others, Levy developed and pitched this series, ultimately unsuccessfully, to the BBC. This article addresses Levy's intentions for and development of the project itself as well as her subsequent reflections on its rejection. The article then discusses a screenplay that Levy wrote based on Mary Seacole's autobiography. In retelling Seacole's story, Levy's screenplay deftly explores the ways in which that story came to be overshadowed. The last section of the article explores projects that Levy contemplated in the final years of her life but did not significantly develop. It also discusses the short piece "Two," which was found in Levy's archive after her death.
Journal for Cultural Research 23: 2,187-201., 2019
This article explores the representation of refugees in Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West, a novel which h... more This article explores the representation of refugees in Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West, a novel which has been widely celebrated for its response to the refugee crisis of its contemporary moment. In a distinct echo of Salman Rushdie’s claim, thirty-five years earlier, that it ‘may be argued that the past is a country from which we have all emigrated’, Hamid’s novel similarly claims that ‘we are all migrants through time.’ Moreover, like Rushdie’s fiction, Hamid’s novel incorporates elements of magical realism: its protagonists escape their unnamed war-torn city through a ‘door’ that instantaneously transports them to Mykonos, and they subsequently travel through other such ‘doors’ to London and California. Their story is interspersed with a series of vignettes in which other migrants also find themselves magically transported across national borders. As well as considering the ways in which Hamid’s novel seeks to humanise refugees, this article considers the novel’s evocation of a world in which human beings – like capital, images, and (mis)information – have gained access to largely ungovernable networks of instantaneous travel across vast distances. It argues that Hamid’s novel is not just ‘about’ refugees but also constitutes a reflection on how they and their journeys are represented and mediated by actually-existing technologies.
Zadie Smith's White Teeth (2000) and Andrea Levy's Small Island (2004) are two of the most widely... more Zadie Smith's White Teeth (2000) and Andrea Levy's Small Island (2004) are two of the most widely celebrated British novels of the twenty-first century. In particular, each has been applauded for exploring the nature of contemporary, multi-ethnic Britain by addressing the experiences of immigrants from former British colonies following the end of the Second World War. What has received less attention is the fact that both novels feature characters from British colonies who fight for the British during the War before migrating to Britain following its conclusion. In Small Island, Jamaican airman Gilbert Joseph serves in the Royal Air Force before moving to London in 1948; in Smith's novel, Bangladeshi Samad Iqbal serves in the Army during the War and moves to London some time later in 1973. Both Gilbert and Samad see the chance to move to the very heart of the former Empire as a tremendous opportunity; understandably, having fought for Britain, they expect to be welcomed there. Upon arrival, however, they quickly discover that the reality is rather different from their expectations.
This chapter examines the two novels' portrayals of the experiences of colonial subjects who fight for Britain during the War before moving there after it has ended. It argues that, while their accounts of the War are certainly very different, both novels are keen to reassert the importance of the role that was played by Britain's colonial subjects, and that both identify the War and the subsequent collapse of Empire as a foundational moment in the development of contemporary, "multicultural" Britain.
In the opening lines of Mohsin Hamid’s 2007 novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Hamid’s narrator ... more In the opening lines of Mohsin Hamid’s 2007 novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Hamid’s narrator – a young, articulate Pakistani man called Changez – offers his hospitality to an American stranger who he finds wandering in a bazaar in Lahore. After asking whether he can be of any assistance, Changez tells the unnamed American that he need not be alarmed because he, Changez, is ‘a lover of America’ (1). It is this apparently chance encounter that occasions the dramatic monologue that constitutes the novel’s narrative; Changez takes the American to his favourite local establishment, and while the two drink tea (and, later, dine) together, Changez recounts the story of his adult life, including his immigration to, and return from, America. Seemingly the perfect host, Changez is at great pains to make the unnamed American feel welcome and relaxed, and yet – apparently despite Changez’s efforts to be hospitable – a sense of great apprehension and suspicion pervades the encounter, with the American clearly ill-at-ease throughout Changez’s narrative. In the novel’s final pages, it is not only implied that the American is an assassin who has been sent to kill Changez, but that Changez has been fully aware of the identity of his interlocutor all along; the novel ends with violence seemingly about to erupt.
This chapter explores the relationship between cross-cultural hospitality and anxieties over security in The Reluctant Fundamentalist. With reference to Derrida’s conception of hospitality, it is argued that The Reluctant Fundamentalist explores the degree to which, in the twenty-first century, cross-cultural hospitality has not so much come to offer a means of allaying the distrust and the anxieties associated with concerns over security but, rather, has come to serve as a function of those very concerns. Changez’s hospitality towards his unnamed American guest is, it would seem, a false hospitality; one which allows him to isolate and, perhaps, thereby neutralize a threat to his own security. However, the hospitality which America offers Changez as a young migrant living in New York is no more genuine; in the wake of 9/11, he is repeatedly perceived to be a security threat (which, ironically, makes him far more likely to become one). Moreover, while his job at an elite valuations firm teaches him to assess the financial values of companies, Changez’s experiences of crossing back and forth across national borders as part of that job – that is, his experiences of being in transit – play a key role in his own ideological transition and, in particular, his re-evaluation of America and the degree to which it values him. Asked in his job interview to value an imaginary company which has one product, instantaneous travel, Changez fails to give an accurate valuation because he does not question the paradoxical prospect of travel without transit and, specifically, whether it would make people feel secure. Over the course of the novel, as Changez spends more and more time in transit, he comes to discover that America is a nation in sociopolitical transition, and that the direction in which it is moving – one in which security concerns form an all-defining metanarrative – deems it increasingly inhospitable to migrants such as Changez and, paradoxically, less secure as a result.
Part of a larger, forthcoming project on screen adaptations of novels that have won or been short... more Part of a larger, forthcoming project on screen adaptations of novels that have won or been short-listed for the Booker Prize for Fiction, this paper focuses in particular on director Ang Lee’s 2012 adaptation of Yann Martel’s 2002 Booker-winner Life of Pi. With reference to recent developments in adaptation studies – and, in particular, to critical movements away from treating ‘source material’ for adaptations as ‘original’ and adaptations themselves as derivative and inferior, and towards understanding the relationship between adapted texts and adaptations as intertextual – it argues that Lee’s film playfully subverts notions of ‘originality’ by casting the novel on which it is based as the adaptation rather than as the adapted text. Moreover, it argues that Lee’s film is one of a number of recent, prominent screen adaptations of ‘well-loved novels’ to take such an approach, and that such works encourage us to consider the relationship between adapted texts and adaptations as intertextual.
Critics have often attempted to emphasize Hanif Kureishi‘s importance for debates about multicult... more Critics have often attempted to emphasize Hanif Kureishi‘s importance for debates about multiculturalism by endowing his work with representational status; he has, variously, been labelled a ‘British Asian’, a ‘postcolonial’, an ’ethnic’, and a ‘post-ethnic’ writer. This has often led to a failure to recognize the multiplicity of his writing and to engage fully with its complexities. Indeed, criticism of Kureishi has often been at its most confused when it has attempted to account for his entire oeuvre, and there has been much anxiety over the issue of who or what his writing finally ‘represents’. Critically examining the theoretical contexts within which Kureishi has been read, this chapter argues that it is not productive to think of him as a ‘representative’ writer of any sort. It explores the notion of abandonment in Kureishi‘s work, theorizing it as a new means of understanding the importance of his writing for contemporary debates about multiculturalism.
Critics have tended to read Andrea Levy's debut novel as a straightforwardly autobiographical tex... more Critics have tended to read Andrea Levy's debut novel as a straightforwardly autobiographical text whose main significance was that it saw Levy begin to make works of literature out of her experiences of growing up as a black British, working-class girl in London. As such, Every Light in the House Burnin' has often been treated as a relatively minor work in Levy's oeuvre; as a text which is of interest either because it shows Levy “finding her voice” or because of sociological, rather than literary, reasons. This chapter re-situates Levy's first novel as a major text in her oeuvre, analysing the ways in which it introduces issues that are to become key to her later (and better-known) work. While Levy's writing has become increasingly concerned with historicity, and while Every Light is not a particularly historical novel, through a close analysis of its narrative form I argue that Every Light interrogates the ways in which, and the degree to which, the past might equip us to deal with the present, and with traumatic experiences in particular. I argue that Every Light's primary significance is not sociological - that is, that it gives an “accurate” account of a particular kind of experience - but that it explores the ways in which the past and the present give meaning to each other, and that it is in this sense that it should be seen as providing the foundation for texts such as Fruit of the Lemon, Small Island and The Long Song.
Over the course of her four novels to date, Andrea Levy’s fiction has become increasingly concern... more Over the course of her four novels to date, Andrea Levy’s fiction has become increasingly concerned with historicity and increasingly polyvocal in form. While Levy is not usually taken to be a “postcolonial” writer, this article argues that it is intellectually profitable to read her work within a postcolonial interpretative frame. With reference to Edward Said’s theorization of the contrapuntal, it argues that Levy’s fiction can be read as approaching Britain’s imperial history and, in turn, its contemporary moment is what we might usefully term a contrapuntal form. Examining each of her four novels to date but focusing in particular on the more recent works, I draw attention to formal and conceptual developments in her work, arguing that they are indicative of an attempt to understand empire and its aftermath as a series of intertwined and interdependent histories.
Monica Ali's phenomenally popular debut novel Brick Lane has often been accused of reinforcing ra... more Monica Ali's phenomenally popular debut novel Brick Lane has often been accused of reinforcing rather than challenging stereotypes of cultural otherness. Interestingly, literary critics who have championed the novel have not sought to deny that it employs stereotypes, but rather to emphasize its sense of knowing irony in doing so. Critically analysing debates which have attempted to assert that Brick Lane either propagates or ironically subverts cultural stereotypes, this article scrutinizes the valency of the kinds of "postmodern" readings of the novel which have thus far prevailed. I argue that the major concern of the novel is not the destabilization of stereotypes but the celebration of the potential for adaptation in both individuals and societies. I argue that Ali employs stereotypes as counterpoints in order to further emphasize her protagonist's final integration into contemporary British society, and that the novel might usefully be understood as a "multicultural Bildungsroman".
Encyclopedia Entries/Reference Works by Michael Perfect
The Literary Encyclopedia, 2020
The Literary Encyclopedia
The Literary Encyclopedia, 2010
The Literary Encyclopedia
Book Reviews by Michael Perfect
Other Writing by Michael Perfect
Papers by Michael Perfect
Ariel-a Review of International English Literature, 2023
ariel: A Review of International English Literature
Uploads
Books by Michael Perfect
This study analyses a number of key contemporary texts that engage with questions about ethnic and cultural diversity in London. It argues that in recent years the most successful and engaging works of literature about the city have attempted to assert its diversity as undeniable whilst also challenging the notion that London is an inclusive utopia which offers sanctuary and prosperity to its migrants.
Journal Articles and Book Chapters by Michael Perfect
This chapter examines the two novels' portrayals of the experiences of colonial subjects who fight for Britain during the War before moving there after it has ended. It argues that, while their accounts of the War are certainly very different, both novels are keen to reassert the importance of the role that was played by Britain's colonial subjects, and that both identify the War and the subsequent collapse of Empire as a foundational moment in the development of contemporary, "multicultural" Britain.
This chapter explores the relationship between cross-cultural hospitality and anxieties over security in The Reluctant Fundamentalist. With reference to Derrida’s conception of hospitality, it is argued that The Reluctant Fundamentalist explores the degree to which, in the twenty-first century, cross-cultural hospitality has not so much come to offer a means of allaying the distrust and the anxieties associated with concerns over security but, rather, has come to serve as a function of those very concerns. Changez’s hospitality towards his unnamed American guest is, it would seem, a false hospitality; one which allows him to isolate and, perhaps, thereby neutralize a threat to his own security. However, the hospitality which America offers Changez as a young migrant living in New York is no more genuine; in the wake of 9/11, he is repeatedly perceived to be a security threat (which, ironically, makes him far more likely to become one). Moreover, while his job at an elite valuations firm teaches him to assess the financial values of companies, Changez’s experiences of crossing back and forth across national borders as part of that job – that is, his experiences of being in transit – play a key role in his own ideological transition and, in particular, his re-evaluation of America and the degree to which it values him. Asked in his job interview to value an imaginary company which has one product, instantaneous travel, Changez fails to give an accurate valuation because he does not question the paradoxical prospect of travel without transit and, specifically, whether it would make people feel secure. Over the course of the novel, as Changez spends more and more time in transit, he comes to discover that America is a nation in sociopolitical transition, and that the direction in which it is moving – one in which security concerns form an all-defining metanarrative – deems it increasingly inhospitable to migrants such as Changez and, paradoxically, less secure as a result.
Encyclopedia Entries/Reference Works by Michael Perfect
Book Reviews by Michael Perfect
Other Writing by Michael Perfect
Papers by Michael Perfect
This study analyses a number of key contemporary texts that engage with questions about ethnic and cultural diversity in London. It argues that in recent years the most successful and engaging works of literature about the city have attempted to assert its diversity as undeniable whilst also challenging the notion that London is an inclusive utopia which offers sanctuary and prosperity to its migrants.
This chapter examines the two novels' portrayals of the experiences of colonial subjects who fight for Britain during the War before moving there after it has ended. It argues that, while their accounts of the War are certainly very different, both novels are keen to reassert the importance of the role that was played by Britain's colonial subjects, and that both identify the War and the subsequent collapse of Empire as a foundational moment in the development of contemporary, "multicultural" Britain.
This chapter explores the relationship between cross-cultural hospitality and anxieties over security in The Reluctant Fundamentalist. With reference to Derrida’s conception of hospitality, it is argued that The Reluctant Fundamentalist explores the degree to which, in the twenty-first century, cross-cultural hospitality has not so much come to offer a means of allaying the distrust and the anxieties associated with concerns over security but, rather, has come to serve as a function of those very concerns. Changez’s hospitality towards his unnamed American guest is, it would seem, a false hospitality; one which allows him to isolate and, perhaps, thereby neutralize a threat to his own security. However, the hospitality which America offers Changez as a young migrant living in New York is no more genuine; in the wake of 9/11, he is repeatedly perceived to be a security threat (which, ironically, makes him far more likely to become one). Moreover, while his job at an elite valuations firm teaches him to assess the financial values of companies, Changez’s experiences of crossing back and forth across national borders as part of that job – that is, his experiences of being in transit – play a key role in his own ideological transition and, in particular, his re-evaluation of America and the degree to which it values him. Asked in his job interview to value an imaginary company which has one product, instantaneous travel, Changez fails to give an accurate valuation because he does not question the paradoxical prospect of travel without transit and, specifically, whether it would make people feel secure. Over the course of the novel, as Changez spends more and more time in transit, he comes to discover that America is a nation in sociopolitical transition, and that the direction in which it is moving – one in which security concerns form an all-defining metanarrative – deems it increasingly inhospitable to migrants such as Changez and, paradoxically, less secure as a result.