Memory And Identity: A Postcolonial Reading of M. G. Vassanji’s Novel Nostalgia

Abstract

1. G. Vassanji is a Kenyan-born Canadian novelist and editor. His parents immigrated to Africa even before Vassanji was born. Although Vassanji was born in Kenya, he was raised in Tanzania. He is now settled in Canada. He has travelled to different countries and has acquired different diasporic experiences in the postcolonial world. Most of his works, in general, portray the colonial and the postcolonial world. His novel Nostalgia is one such speculative novel that brings to light the other side of the technologically advanced postcolonial world. The advancement of technology aimed to support mankind had begun to manipulate human lives and values. Nostalgia tries to unveil the lives of immigrants who try to identify themselves in their mad pursuit of life. They are stuck between reality and made-to-believe life. The consequences of the “in between-life” are woven throughout the plot of the novel. The postcolonial period has seen so much growth and development in technology and the economy. But, on the other side, human values are on the verge of being forgotten. This article will analyse some of those instances from the novel Nostalgia to validate the importance of unveiling the concealed side of the technologically advanced postcolonial world. Every postcolonial experience in the present-day world shows that humans are being used and materials are being loved.