ABSTRACT
Like Siri Hustvedt's The Sorrows of an American, Teju Cole's debut novel, Open City, has prompted critics to propose a biographical reading. This chapter examines Open City in more detail, and explores the complex relationship between trauma and diaspora, drawing on critics who have moved beyond the traditional insistence that diasporic experience is defined by forced migration and victimization. Open City is clearly informed by this development as it deals with imperial diasporas in North America and North Africa and highlights the internal diversity within and among African diasporas. In doing so, Cole challenges not only the myth of American innocence and its European equivalent but also the African and African American claim of victimhood that obstructs a thorough investigation of inequality within and among diasporic communities. While focusing on these issues, the chapter points out how the psychoanalytic and psychogeographic perspective of contributes to establishing counter-histories of trauma.
