Narrating the Transmodern Fracture in Teju Cole’s Every Day Is for the Thief

Abstract

This paper examines the novella Every Day Is for the Thief (Teju Cole, 2007/2014) as exemplary of the transmodern turn in literature and, specifically, of what Rosa María Rodríguez Magda has termed “narratives of fracture” (2019). It explores the theoretical shift ushered in by Transmodernity and the repercussions this may have for texts like Cole’s –literary works that address the shortcomings of the Eurocentric world-system and scrutinize the implications of globalization for paramodern cultures– using Enrique Dussel’s terminology (2012). By focusing on the text’s approach to genre and intermediality, conflicted narrative voice, and depiction of transnational fluxes, I seek to chart the ways in which the narrative exposes and undermines Western epistemic domination, while pushing new ways of seeing and thinking aligned with the transmodern paradigm.