The Phenomenology of Movement and Rest

This book is a phenomenological exploration of wandering and dwelling in the (selected) works of V. S. Naipaul, W. G. Sebald, and T. G. Tranströmer – three of the most perceptive chroniclers of the last century.
Human history can be (re)told as the history of wandering and dwelling. Accounts of migrations, dispersals, pilgrimages, travels, explorations, shelters, and settlements – all testify to the primal human desire for movement and rest. This monograph is the first comprehensive phenomenological account of wandering and dwelling in the works of Naipaul, Sebald and Tranströmer. Although associated with widely variant literary forms and approaches, all the three litterateurs evince a profound, persistent and paradigmatic engagement with the experiences of wandering and dwelling in their respective oeuvres. It is this common engagement with the existential themes of movement and rest that forms the critical locus of this study.