The graveyard and the garden: Reading connectivities in Rana Dasgupta’s “The Changeling”

Urban Farm DB summary

This article analyzes Rana Dasgupta’s short story “The Changeling” from Tokyo Cancelled. It explores the juxtaposition of systemic and organic networks as a central trope, arguing that the story presents a symbolic transformation of Paris from a national capital to a global city, shifting from a national to a planetary perspective. The story features a systemic network of control in Montparnasse graveyard and an organic network out of control in a community garden, which converge into the metropolis, hinting at worldwide connectivity through local storytelling.