‘A Fiction to Mock the Cuckold’: Reinvigorating the Cliché Figure of the Cuckold in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s By the Sea (2001) and Gravel Heart (2017)

ABSTRACT

This article argues that Abdulrazak Gurnah reinvigorates the cliché figure of the cuckold into a complex narrative device. His cuckolds serve as nexuses through which he expresses some of his authorial concerns in By the Sea (2001) and Gravel Heart (2017). While Rajab Shaaban Mahmud and Masud Yahya are considered traditional cuckolds by other characters in their respective novels, Gurnah’s complex use of multiple narrative situations exposes the superficiality of this identity to his readers. In so doing, Gurnah configures cuckolds as ambiguous figures to expose the power dynamics amongst multiple masculinities and the dangers of casting others as hapless victims. This article delineates similarities between the figure of the cuckold as it is traditionally portrayed and Gurnah’s cuckold characters, before it describes how the author has repurposed the trope. It draws on theories of identity by Stuart Hall and descriptions of hegemonic masculinities proposed by R.W. Connell. It also uses the notion of the comforts of victimhood developed in separate works by Taro Iwata and Viet Thanh Nguyen. These theories inform the close readings of the primary texts presented throughout the article. Ultimately, the argument asserts that Gurnah refreshes a stagnant literary trope by imbuing the cuckold with agency.

KEYWORDS:

• Abdulrazak Gurnah
• agency
• cuckold
• masculinities
• victimhood
• power

SUBJECT CLASSIFICATION CODES:

• transnational literature
• East African literature
• world literature

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on the Contributor

Dr Sean James Bosman is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. He is also a member of the Andrew W. Mellon Intersecting Diasporas Group.

Notes

1 Gurnah 2001, 161.

2 Sinclair argues that the avoidance of male guilt in patriarchal societies in which traditional literary canons have primarily been written by men is to be expected. This observation is reinforced by the lack of a term equivalent to ‘cuckold’ to refer to a wife whose spouse has cheated (Sinclair 2011, 31–32).

3 For examples of commentary on Gurnah’s interests in the dismantling of binaries, see Kaigai (2014), Pratt (2008), and Siundu (2013). Examples of critiques on Gurnah’s awareness of the complexities of the histories of the East African littoral region include Lewis (2011), Olaussen (2012), and Samuelson (2012).

4 This article only presents the elements of this developmental history deemed relevant to its central argument. Although a comprehensive account remains of interest, it falls outside of the ambits of this paper.

5 For detailed analyses on the evolution of these characteristics, see Corcoran (2012, 543–546), Hiatt (1989, 61), and Sinclair (2011, 1–3, 30–32, 50–61).

6 The latter point falls outside the scope of this paper.