A Space of their Own:Representing Migrant Experience in In the Skin of a Lion and Me Migrant

The representationofmigrant experience is fraught with challenges. Not only is the writer increasinglyforced into restrictive narratives,which are founded upon reductive assumptions of the migrant subject, in some cases, he or she also has to transcend thebarriers of writing in a language that is not their characters’ mothertongue. This paper aims to examine the ways in which Michael Ondaatje and MdMukul Hossinetackle these issues and expand upon the representation of migrant experiencebychallenging existing grand narratives. Italso examines the way in which both writers reconfigure narrative spaces through the use of metaphors intheir attempt to represent the peculiarities of migrant experience. Adding to their challenge is that migrant experience is oftencharacterized by a trauma thatinherently resists representation. This, coupled with the fact that anyrepresentation of migration has to grapple with the politics of language, can pose problems of accessibility. This paperconsidershow both writers negotiate these difficulties, arguing that both Ondaatje and Hossine ultimatelytranscend language in order to convey the distinctive contours of migrant experience.