National Consciousness and the Politics of Remembering in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Admiring Silence

Abstract

This paper examines how Abdulrazak Gurnah portrays the concept of national consciousness in Admiring Silence. The novel narrates the story of an unnamed man who leaves Zanzibar and tries to establish a life in England. He retains memories of home that shape his identity. His memories reflect how a nation strives to express a shared story about its people. At the same time, these memories reveal the pain and instability that come when real lives do not fit the official story. The study draws on the work of Pierre Nora and Maurice Halbwachs to examine how memory shapes a nation. Nora explains that memory manifests form through places and symbols that people return to in thought. Halbwachs explains that memory develops inside social groups and changes with them. These concepts clarify how the unnamed narrator in the novel struggles with both personal memory and state-promoted memory. The paper argues that Gurnah represents national consciousness as never fixed. It emerges from conflict, hope, fear, and loss. The unnamed narrator wants to belong; however, he also sees how nations hide their wounds. His memories reflect his desire for connection and his wish to speak the truth of his past. The novel presents an in-depth investigation of an individual’s life between home and exile from his perspective.