I examine how Nicolas Dickner’s Nikolski re-frames a static approach to home and the figure of the mobile home-maker in an era characterized by flux and fluidity, which Zygmunt Bauman calls liquid modernity. Bauman also suggests a binary of the tourist and vagabond “life strategies” as emblematic of the era, and posits that mobility is an emerging means of social stratification. I argue that Dickner explores alternate “life strategies” as well as different kinds of networks and communal connections possible in liquid modernity through his alternately immobilized and itinerant characters. More specifically, Dickner conjures new means of representing and understanding the idea of home through what he calls a “complex map,” a map that I suggest is less a template and more a multi-scalar and multi-sensory composite of points of reference and unique legends or codes which, ultimately, functions as an important identity anchor amidst the flows of liquid modernity.
Please note that works on the Canadian Literature website may not be the final versions as they appear in the journal, as additional editing may take place between the web and print versions. If you are quoting reviews, articles, and/or poems from the Canadian Literature website, please indicate the date of access.