Susan Alice Fischer, Lincoln University
Vol. 23, No. 1 (Spring 2004), 107-120

Focusing on two London novels with female protagonists—Joan Riley’s Waiting in the Twilight (1987) and Hanan Al-Shaykh’s Only in London (2002)—the essay moves away from overused notions of flânerie to focus on more complex realities in the contemporary urban environment. This shift allows for an analysis of female characters whose migration to London stems from forces of postcolonialism, global capitalism, and war, and who resist commodification by reinventing themselves to varying degrees.  Examining their gendered, racialized, sexualized and classed interactions with urban space, the essay explores how the characters’ experiences in London compel them to reconsider their sense of home and national identity.