Since its publication in 2008, Rawi Hages Cockroach has generated two forms of criticism, one which focuses on Hages unnamed narrators experiences in Montreal, and another which pays attention to his diasporic condition and trauma complex. Both critical methodologies face specific conceptual challenges, as neither can reconcile the national and local context of Cockroach with its global and diasporic affiliations. For that reason, this article connects these two methodologies by analysing the function of refugee narratives in Cockroach. This article interprets the narrator as complicit with those he criticizes and reads the novels violent ending as a duplication of western modes of intervention through narratives of security and rescue rather than as a tool that allows the protagonist to overcome his guilt complex. © 2014 Taylor & Francis.

Rescue Refugees Complicity Security Cockroach Rawi Hage trauma

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