Lost in Transition- Quest for Identity Through Diaspora

Abstract

The conceptualization of migration in literature which more often than not precipitates tragedy and in turn the dilemma in identity is associated with the literary concept of diaspora. Popularly categorized with the longing for homeland and its poetics, there is a rhetorical attempt to fathom the void caused due to displacement. The dichotomy of two identities, created due to tension between the former self-clinging to roots of origin and the latter trying to configure oneself within the framework of a new identity, contributes to the amalgamation of distinguishable individualities. Primarily, Diaspora literature is characterized by a sense of alienation and loss that envelopes the narrative and it is conditioned by the after-effects of expatriation migration. Generally, it revolves around themes of displacement, attempts to trace back existential roots, nostalgia, and the inescapable association of the dire quest for identity that diaspora and migration literature bring on to. It deals with the equivocacy of plurality and hybridization in the domain of constantly changing identities and transnationalism in the process of migration. The paper attempts to examine the various forms of literature and the way they concretize diaspora, as a result: evoking literary stimuli of longing for homeland due to displacement. It aims to encompass the realms of cultural, economic, social, religious, and political consciousness that change an individual's displacement from one dominion to another. The narrative is shaped into reality with devices of metaphors and zeugma to explain exaggerated realities. This paper specifically closely reads texts of various literary genres like Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, a graphic novel, Salman Rushdie's essay Imaginary Homelands Rohinton Mistry's short story Swimming Lessons and Jhumpa Lahiri's novel, Namesake.