Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association

Abstract:

This article places the work of Emma Donoghue’s 2012 short story collection, Astray, within the context of Donoghue’s larger oeuvre of historical writing to show how Donoghue comments on the contemporary world via historical contexts. The Derridean concepts of “différance” and “hospitality,” along with theory from Ryan Trimm and Susan Strehle, are applied to the analysis of three stories: “Onward,” “The Long Way Home,” and “The Lost Seed.” These analyses reveal how Donoghue uses themes of movement, migration, and settlement to destabilize traditional notions of “home” and the traditional boundaries of domestic spaces.