Emotional and Cultural Resonances: A Nostalgic Analysis of Khaled Hosseini’s Selected Novels

Abstract

This paper explores the nostalgia experienced by major characters in Khaled Hosseini’s selected novels, The Kite Runner and the Mountains Echoed. The study employs a qualitative-interpretive research methodology while applying textual analysis as a research method for data analysis, including Homi K. Bhabha’s theory of hybridity as the lens. The protagonists of the novels leave their homeland (Afghanistan) to pursue a better life in the host countries away from the turmoil of their native land, but they find the new lands antagonistic to their expectations, and as a result, they are confronted with various problems, including nostalgia, a pervasive theme that prompts the diasporic struggles of the immigrants and keeps challenging and problematizing their identity and lifestyle in the new world. This research seeks to unearth the nuanced layers of nostalgia in Hosseini’s storytelling, shedding light on the emotional and cultural resonances that have made his novels enduring classics.