Department of British and American Studies at the - Univerzita ...

Tales from India: Aravind Adiga in the Role of a Travel Guide
Simona Hevešiová
University of Constantine the Philosopher, Nitra
The search for one‘s identity and the process of its (re)construction rank among the
most frequent discourses in contemporary academic discussions. The concept of identity has
been scrutinized within a variety of disciplinary areas and from many perspectives, such as
psychoanalytical, social constructionist or ideological but also in terms of its representation in
the literary form through the view of essentialists or structuralists. To large extent, the
preoccupation with identity and the self in the literary milieu has been fuelled by the
emergence of postcolonial and ethnic writing, which has gained prominence in the last
decades and became almost fashionable to deal with (at least at Western universities). In fact,
the explosion of theories and new concepts of identity aiming to investigate the mysterious
depths of human mind triggered Madan Sarup to mark the ―widespread, pervasive fascination
with identity‖ as a ―symptom of postmodernity‖ (1996: 28). However, there has been a
noticeable development within the field that has marked a shifting terrain in the studies. As
Zygmunt Bauman pointed out, the ―modern ‗problem of identity‘ was how to construct an
identity and keep it solid and stable, the postmodern ‗problem of identity‘ is primarily how to
avoid fixation and keep the options open‖ (Bauman 1996: 18).
Slovak Studies in English, Vol. 3, 2011 – Identity in Intercultural Communication
LITERATURE
In general, the self has been exposed to a crucial and dramatic transformation since its
(re)evolution which has contributed to the alteration of its essential characteristics. It has gone
from being marked as homogeneous and unified to being viewed as transitory and
polysemous. The idea of a coherent, centered and integrated identity has disappeared and been
replaced by its flexible, fragmented and ambiguous counterpart. With the traditional views
being undermined a new concept regarding identity as ―fabricated, constructed, in process‖
(Sarup 1996: 14) has supplanted them. Clearly, the postmodern world is a world of dynamism
that leads to the reconstitution of the self that no longer possesses stability and fixedness.
Instead, contradiction, inconsistency and hybridization take their place. In consequence,
identity becomes a multidimensional space in which both psychological and sociological
aspects have to be taken into consideration and which give rise to a relational self. It can be
viewed as a ―mediating concept between the external and the internal, the individual and
society‖ (ibid.: 28), adjusting the self-definition to the changing relationships with others.
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