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341652

Ahdaf Soueif's "Sandpiper": A Narrative Identity in a Liminal Space

Article

Last updated: 24 Dec 2024

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Abstract

Self-fulfillment and homecoming are very complex psychological processes to achieve. To find oneself in a liminal space complicates these processes for he /she will experience ambivalent feelings. Such feelings are usually experienced by immigrants whose values and traditions clash with those of the host culture. Having set her feet in the West in pursuit of the dream of completing her higher studies in Britain, the Arab writer Ahdaf Soueif (1950- ) has gone through the feelings of uncertainty and unrest. In her semiautobiographical short story "Sandpiper" (1994), she reflects on her protagonist's conflicting cross-cultural lived experiences. The paper demonstrates how Soueif has made use of travel narrative/rhetoric as a medium wherein she can culturally mediate between her homeland (Egypt) and her new country (Britain) while exposing the feelings of anxiety and discomfort of her interracially married characters. The paper analyzes Soueif's "Sandpiper" in the light of the psychological concept of narrative identity by Dan P. McAdams and the postcolonial concepts of liminality by Homi Bhabha and contrapuntal thinking by Edward Said. In addition to defining these concepts, the paper examines how these theoretical frameworks truly apply to Soueif's narrative discourse and her female protagonist.

DOI

10.21608/jssa.2024.254436.1581

Keywords

Ahdaf Soueif, Cross-cultural, Liminal space, Narrative identity, Sandpiper

Authors

First Name

Aseel H.

Last Name

Jassam

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

قسم اللغة الإنجليزية / كلية التربية الأساسية/ الجامعة المستنصرية / العراق

Email

aseelhjassam@gmail.com

City

بغداد / العراق

Orcid

https://orcid.org/00

First Name

Hadeel H.

Last Name

Jassam

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

قسم اللغة الانجليزية/ كلية التربية للعلوم الانسانية/ جامعة ديالى/ العراق

Email

ins.hadeel@gmail.com

City

ديالى / العراق

Orcid

-

First Name

Ayad T.

Last Name

Ibrahim

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

قسم التاريخ/ كلية التربية الاساسية/ جامعة ديالى/ العراق

Email

ayadtarkan@gmail.com

City

ديالى / العراق

Orcid

-

Volume

24

Article Issue

9

Related Issue

45772

Issue Date

2023-12-01

Receive Date

2023-11-18

Publish Date

2023-12-31

Page Start

1

Page End

16

Print ISSN

2356-8321

Online ISSN

2356-833X

Link

https://jssa.journals.ekb.eg/article_341652.html

Detail API

https://jssa.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=341652

Order

5

Type

المقالة الأصلية

Type Code

653

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

مجلة البحث العلمي في الآداب

Publication Link

https://jssa.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Ahdaf Soueif's "Sandpiper": A Narrative Identity in a Liminal Space

Details

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Article

Created At

24 Dec 2024