Between worlds: exploring Imraan Coovadia's The Wedding and Green-Eyed Thieves
Date
2010-02-25T12:24:22Z
Authors
Choonara, Zubeida
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Abstract
Imraan Coovadia is the author of two novels, The Wedding and Green-eyed Thieves, and has published several short stories and essays. Coovadia's writing is of importance as a product of cultural hybridity, as he is a writer of Indian descent who was born in South Africa and studied in the United States. Coovadia's narratives allow for an exploration of significant issues of present-day diaspora critical thinking.
Coovadia's texts function primarily as migrant novels. A discussion of both texts, The Wedding and Green-eyed Thieves, explores the manner in which postcolonial themes feature as characteristic of migrant writing and, hence, reveal the effect of the lack of material reality in the texts.
Coovadia's popularity is representative of the West's preference for cosmopolitan writing. The value of migrant or transnational writing over national writing opens the way for further study in the field of South African literature.