Fragility and (Dis-)Connection in David Szalay’s Turbulence

Martínez-Alfaro, María Jesús

En : Transmodern Literatures in the 21st Century Of(f) Limits
2025
Routledge London; New York
ISBN: 9781041067894
Pp: 211-227

Resumen: Turbulence (2018) is made up of twelve brief sections that deal with flights and the interlinked stories of several travellers. The narrative proceeds in relay-like fashion and exploits the speed and liminality of air travel to powerfully convey a view of our world as increasingly interconnected and of our time as a “homo mobilis era.” This chapter links these features with Transmodernity, and the debate on and reconceptualisation of limits at the core of the network-like mode of thinking that best fits the present age. Turbulence is approached from this perspective by resorting to studies on air travel fiction and translocality in contemporary novels. The characters’ conflicts, which have to do with strained relations and difficulties in communicating with others, are narrated in Szalay’s novel through a type of formal discontinuity and dislocation that has come to the Forefront in recent (fragmented/networked) fiction. The analysis also addresses the ways in which the book’s contents become one with its formal structure in such a way as to invite reflection on whether in a world where we are more connected than ever on a global level, we are perhaps less present to one another, and ultimately feel more fragile and alone.

Nota: Postprint

DOI: 10.4324/9781003637097-16