lnterpreter[s] of Maladies : a study of some selected short stories by Ahdaf Soueif and Jhumpa Lahiri

• Published in: Majallat al-baḥth al-ʻilmī fī al-ādāb Vol. 2016; no. 17; pp. 505 - 540
• Main Author: Ali, Walid Samir
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cairo, Egypt Ain Shams University, Faculty of Women for Arts, Science and Education 2016
• ISSN: 2356-8321; 2356-833X

In their short stories, both Ahdaf Soueif and Jhumpa Lahiri are preoccupied with representing the complexity of cultural encounters which are seen as a catalyst of identity formation as well as cultural hybridization. Their works of fiction show how identity is formed through mutual cultural translation in a world that is generally transcultural. The characters representing cultural encounters do not only assimilate or adopt the dominant culture of ex-colonizing society, but they manage to develop their own native culture and blend it with the mainstream one to fulfill their dreams. Such “blending” of cultures is, according to Welsch, a major feature of contemporary culture. He argues that the deep differences between cultures are today diminishing more and more, that contemporary cultures are characterized by cross-culturing elements – and in this sense are to be comprehended as transcultural rather than monocultural.