RELIGIOUS FANATICISM OR FAITH TRADITION: THE ENTANGLED SOUL OF AN IMMIGRANT
RELIGIOUS FANATICISM OR FAITH TRADITION: THE ENTANGLED SOUL OF AN IMMIGRANT

Summary/Abstract: The paper discusses two contemporary literary works, i.e. Hanif Kureishis’s short story My Son the Fanatic and Elif Shafak’s novel Honour. The discussion will concern the adaptation/rejection of religious values by the immigrantcommunity in a new country. Specifically, the question of religion as the source of fears, threats, meaning or dignity in the process of identity construction will be addressed.Confronting the protagonists’ perspectives with those of the mainstream culture serves as a means to present the protagonists’ position towards themselves. The focus of the discussion is on the idea of liberation in the construction of one’s identity. Liberation and entangled soul seen as the concepts typical for the Western thought will constitute the base to discuss the position of the Other towards themselves in their ideological struggle over the question of belonging. The purpose of the discussion is to show that two contradictory positions, i.e. of the Other and of the West, can be approached as mutually complementary rather than counteractive in analysing contemporary dilemmas.

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