Remembering Displacement: A Geocritical Reading of Ezzedine Fisheres Embrace on Brooklyn Bridge and Miral Al-Tahawys Brooklyn Heights

This study attempts to provide an investigation of two contemporary novels: Ezzedine Fishere's Embrace on Brooklyn Bridge (2011) and Miral Al Tahawy's Brooklyn Heights (2010). This investigation is conducted through applying a geocritical reading on the two novels. The novels include many spatial elements that are divided into physical and psychological spaces. In addition, the study examines how these novels employ spatial elements to convey the message related to displacement and alienation. Besides, it explores the interconnectedness between space and time and the slight difference between these concepts. Space and time are represented and experienced through the various places that the characters of the two novels move to and from various spaces. Furthermore, the study highlights how spaces are used to shape the narratives, characters' development and the thematic investigation of the two literary works. Moreover, the themes of displacement and alienation are investigated through the exploration of spatiality in the two novels. Finally, memory plays a crucial role in remembering the past, tackling the present and expecting the future. Memories of places are depicted by the protagonists in the two novels and they have a dominant effect on them. They have an important role in helping the narrative to set the contesting ideologies in challenging positions.