Ancient tragedy as modern margins: rewriting of a classic as resistance in Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire

Abstract

This thesis examines, how Kamila Shamsie’s novel Home Fire functions as an act of political and cultural resistance by rewriting Sophocles’ ancient Greek tragedy Antigone in the context of contemporary British Muslim experience. After September 11, 2001 terrorist attack, British Muslims have faced investigation, restricted citizenship, and marginalization through counter-terrorism policies. Shamsie responds to this crisis by adapting one of Western literature’s most celebrated texts. Using adaptation theory, postcolonial theory, intersectional feminism, and political philosophy, this research provides the first comprehensive analysis of Home Fire as an adaptation of a classic text. This thesis argues that Shamsie’s rewriting works as resistance on multiple levels. It exposes Creon’s ancient tyranny, and humanizes characters in media representation. Through detailed comparative analysis, the thesis examines three dimensions of the adaptation. First, it analyzes how both texts use the unburied body to explore citizenship, statelessness, and sovereign power. Second, it investigates how gender shapes resistance, focusing on the sisters who fight for their brothers and the politics of public mourning. Third, it explores how Shamsie transforms tragic from itself from a Greek play to a contemporary novel. This research connects classical reception studies, postcolonial literature, and British Muslim writing – fields that rarely engage with each other. By showing how Home Fire works both as literary achievement and political intervention, this thesis illuminates the power of classical rewriting as a tool for resistance against contemporary injustice.