Humanism In Crisis: Refugee Literature And The Ethics Of Empathy In Mohsin Hamid's Exit West (2017)
Auteurs : Amirouche Nassima .
Résumé
Mohsin Hamid's Exit West presents a transformative vision of humanism through its poetic meditation on displacement and connection. The novel's magical realist treatment of refugee experience transcends conventional borders, crafting narrative spaces where empathy becomes an embodied, intercultural practice rather than a distant ideal. By merging speculative elements with poignant depictions of migration, Hamid converts the reading experience into a profound ethical engagement with otherness. This study investigates how the novel's formal innovations express its humanist philosophy. The mystical doors transporting characters between worlds serve as more than plot mechanisms - they emerge as potent symbols of cultural metamorphosis. As characters move through these transitional spaces, their deepening relationships exemplify fresh paradigms of understanding that resist Western humanist universalism. The narrative's fluid architecture, shifting effortlessly across perspectives and geographies, enacts the very intercultural exchange it advocates. Engaging contemporary ethical philosophy and postcolonial theory, this article reveals literature's unique capacity to bridge specific experiences of displacement with universal yearnings for human dignity. Exit West ultimately proposes that humanism requires constant reinvention through storytelling - that narratives of migration might help cultivate more expansive ways of belonging in our interconnected global reality.
Mots clés
Displacement ; Humanism ; Intercultural Empathy ; Magical Realism ; Mohsin Hamid ; Narrative Ethics ; Refugee Literature
