The House as a Cognitive Space: Memory, Identity and Belonging in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Gravel Heart

This study analyzes Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Gravel Heart (2017) through the motif of the house, tracing the diasporic journey of the protagonist, Salim, while primarily employing Gaston Bachelard’s The Poetics of Space and conceptual blending theory as analytical frameworks, supplemented by diaspora theory perspectives. Salim’s childhood house in Zanzibar, marked by the absence of paternal care, shapes his psychological development, illustrating how early domestic experiences leave lasting imprints on identity formation. His subsequent residences in Britain, from his uncle Amir’s embassy house, the OAU (Organisation of African Unity) collective, and various rented flats, to his own flat in Putney, serve as arenas for negotiating autonomy, dependence and belonging. Each dwelling functions as a physical and symbolic space, while the blending of memory, perception and social interaction adds psychological nuance, revealing the dynamic interplay between spatial environment and selfhood. Salim’s oscillation between remaining in his homeland and returning to Britain underscores tension between dislocation and the longing for home, attachment and diasporic alienation. The analysis demonstrates that houses in Gravel Heart operate as mirrors of absence and mediators of identity, tracing the continuous negotiation of selfhood across memory, space and diasporic experience, while exposing the intricate complexities of personal and social identity under conditions of displacement.