Michael Ondaatje's Toronto and Yvonne Vera's Bulawayo are imperial spaces which both writers deconstruct through a manipulation of genre. For Ondaatje as for Vera, the novel does not so much express the structure of the city as posit an alternative art form. In order to deconstruct the city space both writers portray the city in miscellaneous snatches through the use of a non-consecutive plot, and through their discussion of the working-class citize and violence. These techniques create a sense of disorder allowing the writers to replace the symmetry of municipal organization into a shape of their own, one that is more alive to the nuances of behaviour. Through this deconstruction of the city the novel genre is transformed into a vehicle for a revolutionary, anarchic urban consciousness. Toronto and Bulawayo represent postcolonial cities.
