Beyond 'Consensus Realism': Speculative Imaginings of Relationality, Mobility and Hope in Mohsin Hamid's Exit West

Against the backdrop of twenty-first century conditions of mounting uncertainty, precariousness and human expendability, this essay explores some of the complexities inherent to the challenge of opposing the current discursive hegemony of nativist and anti-immigrant discourse by mobilizing fiction's unique ability to create alternative imaginaries of responsibility and hope. Taking Mohsin Hamid’s richly nuanced immigration novel Exit West as a case study, the essay highlights the present surge in speculative and magic realist forms of storytelling in narratives of flight and refugeeism as part of a wider attempt to resist the manipulative, obfuscating and morally disabling language and affective constraints of political discourse and the media.