Aindrilla Guin

Politics of Identity: in the Fiction of Hanif Kureishi Aindrilla Guin

Hanif Kureishi, the South Asian British diasporic author is born of mixed parentage. Born to a Pakistani father and British mother, he is both British and South Asian. This second generation British diasporic author exploits his in-betweenness. He writes as both insider and outsider and his positioning as a diasporic gives him a vantage ground wherefrom to comment on both the homeland and hostland nations. He exploits his identity as he poses as a victim but hardly shares the angst or disruption of a diasporic subject. Hanif Kureishi's characters in his fiction mostly resemble his state. The characters generally tread the same aspirations as the author. His characters resort to bohemianism, outlandish irresponsibility in an urge to seek a release from the state of deadlock that their diasporic identity has posed. However the question remains that if the characters are in a strait in their hostland why do they not look back to their homeland culture or state? Are they really divided identities or is it simply a guile to pose as the other? The book explores and questions the author and his characters' difficult identification and positioning while introspecting into the politics.