By the Sea

Beyond its exploration of the asylum process, in what sense is By the Sea a postcolonial novel? In particular, how does the family feud at the novel’s heart intersect with or evoke colonial and postcolonial realities?

How does Gurnah’s use of a dual first-person narrative, where each narrator is explicitly unreliable, force the reader to become an active participant in the construction of historical truth?

Explore the function of the novel’s dual settings. How does Gurnah juxtapose the world of Zanzibar, defined by the monsoon trade, with the sterile, melancholic atmosphere of the English seaside town to explore the psychological experience of exile?