Fragmented Identity and the Quest for Self in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Admiring Silence

Anusia S.¹, Dr. F. Mary Priya²

¹Reg. No. 241222102002, PhD Research Scholar (Part Time) and Assistant Professor, PG and Research Department of English, St. Mary’s College (Autonomous), Thoothukudi – 628001. Affiliated to Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Abishekapatti, Tirunelveli – 672012, Tamil Nadu, India. anusiasivapandi@gmail.com

²Assistant Professor, PG and Research Department of English, St. Mary’s College (Autonomous), Thoothukudi – 628001. Affiliated to Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Abishekapatti, Tirunelveli – 672012, Tamil Nadu, India. fpriyaresearch2017@gmail.com

Abstract

The research paper examines the unnamed narrator’s struggle in finding his sense of identity and belongingness both in the homeland and the host land. The migration has shattered his relationship with his homeland, Zanzibar. He feels trapped by his unspeakable past in Africa. He has broken his relationship with Emma, an Englishwoman after two decades. He feels foreign in the both spaces. Diaspora creates a state of in-betweenness in the life of the narrator. Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Admiring Silence was published in 1996.  A Tanzanian-born British writer, Abdulrazak Gurnah has written novels and his novels deal with the questions of belongingness, colonialism, displacement, memory and migration. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in the year 2021.The present research paper attempts to read Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Admiring Silence in the diasporic perspective and adopts a qualitative methodology.

Keywords: Diaspora, Homing desire, Identity, Homeland, Host land.