Browsing by Author "Menana Nouara"

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    Identity and Exile in Leila Aboulela’s Minaret (2005) and Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire (2017)
    (Mouloud Mammeri University, 2023) Bourabah Liticia; Menana Nouara
    This research paper is a comparative study of Minaret (2005) and Home Fire (2017), by the two Muslims authors who live in Britain, namely Leila Aboulela and Kamila Shamsie. Due to the African and Asian origin of the two authors, their writings focus on the challenges faced by expatriates, particularly Muslims in their new societies. The main purpose of this study is to point out that the two narrators explore important issues such as exile and identity, they also show the importance of identity in strengthening cultural ties and restoring a sense of belonging in the life of an expatriate. Both novels examine the extent to which Western societies influence certain individuals in exile, causing them to easily integrate into the cultures of their new environment, in return for which they are stripped of their true identity. Our research has relied on Julia Kristeva's Intertextuality introduced in Graham Allen's Intertextuality (2000). First, we have established some affinities that appear between the female protagonists: Najwa, Isma and Aneeka in the two selected novels, we have also examined the similarities between the male characters: Omar, Parvaiz, Tamer and Eamonn. We have concluded our formalist study by evaluating the connections between the two parental characters: Zeinab and Karamat. Concerning our thematic approach, we have come to assign identity and religion, in addition to family and Islamophobia as three central themes within both novels. After analyzing the two narratives using Kristeva's Intertextuality, we have reached the conclusion that identity and exile are two important issues expressed by the experiences of different characters who are forced to confront the challenges and complexities of living in a world where one's identity is constantly being questioned and challenged