Transitory Spaces, Memory, and Intermediality in Teju Cole’s Every Day Is for the Thief and Open City
Publisher DOI
Abstract
The chapter explores the relation between memory, intermediality, and space in selected works by Nigerian American writer Teju Cole. It shows how intermediality functions as a central operating principle of memory that reveals, even if only tentatively and ambivalently, the latent histories inscribed in urban spaces. In Cole’s work, the typically disjunctive interplay between words and images underlies the making of what we call “deep spaces,” i.e., spaces in which multiple and frequently conflicting histories coexist. Focusing on Cole’s Every Day is for the Thief (2007) and Open City (2011) the chapter illustrates how intermedial relations function as a decolonial device, capable of excavating previously hidden memories and enacting critical interventions in urban memory politics. Intermedial relations thus become critical in making visible the plurality of histories connected to different spaces and in establishing greater equality in public memorial landscapes. The chapter seeks to advance a more nuanced view of the relation between postcolonial space and memory, emphasizing how the connective and differential nature of intermediality offers new perspectives on the possibilities of decolonial transformation.
Date Issued
2025
Publication Type
Book Section
Subject(s)
Language(s)
en
Editor(s)
López-Ropero, Lourdes | |
Sokolowska-Paryz, Marzena |
Additional Credits
Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan
Access(Rights)
metadata.only