Global Travel and In/voluntary Border Crossings: Anne Enright’s “The Hotel” (2017)

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

This chapter reads Anne Enright’s short story “The Hotel” (2017) as a sophisticated response to a range of contemporary concerns around migration and refugees. The story approaches refugees’ experience of involuntary border crossing via the voluntary experience of international travel: Enright’s protagonist finds herself in a different country late at night after her flight is rerouted, and her search for the airport hotel seemingly leads her into a queue of people seeking asylum. Utilising core strengths of the modern short form, Enright’s story employs a fragmentary, open-ended and ambiguous approach in which the line between reality and sleep-deprived imagination becomes increasingly blurred.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationBorders and Border Crossings in the Contemporary British Short Story
EditorsBarbara Korte, Laura Lojo-Rodríguez
Place of PublicationBasingstoke
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan
Chapter4
Pages77-94
Number of pages18
ISBN (Electronic)9783030303594
ISBN (Print)9783030303587
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020

Keywords

  • Anne enright
  • Liminality
  • Migration
  • Refugees
  • Travel

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