Hybridity and the Illusion of Identity Quest in Amin Maalouf’s The Disoriented

In this article, I intend to focus on the interrelatedness between hybrid cultural identity, sense of belonging and the illusion of identity quest, which are of paramount importance to the construction and formation of identities. In fact, the concept of identity with respect to intercultural elements had always been highly debatable and controversial. In this vein, the main objective of this paper would be that of exploring some of the countless manners in which cultural identity could be forged and shaped. To attempt to do so, I would engage in deconstructing the predominant identity-related themes in the novel The Disoriented by Lebanese-French writer Amin Maalouf. His fluid migratory experiences and the vision he harbors about cultural dynamics have paved the way for his unconventional and original manner to internalize and externalize the issue of identity. Based on that, I would shed light on how his mobile and hybrid identity mirrors and emulates the various facets of identity that emerge from his fictional production. More specifically, I would examine the notion of cultural identity through the themes of migration, diaspora, exile, alienation, liminality and alterity in The Disoriented. Given these first considerations, the significance of this article would be that of questioning how cultural identity had been intertwined and reconfigured in literature, particularly in the works of a culturally hybrid author like Amin Maalouf. Another impact of this paper is that it shall display that cultural identity could never be circumscribed or essentialized, and that it seems to be perpetually fugitive and in constant motion.