THE LIMINAL SELF: ARTICULATING A TRANSNATIONAL IDENTITY IN AHDAF SOUEIF'S IN THE EYE OF THE SUN

Abstract

With her understated narrative portrayals, Egyptian author and cultural critic Ahdaf Soueif becomes a major voice in postcolonial literature by skillfully dissecting the complexities of cultural hybridity. Her writings, notably In the Eye of the Sun (1992), offer an important understanding of the delicate compromises of identity, belonging, and cultural intersectionality in a global world. This study explores the intricate connection between cultural hybridization and the emergence of a worldwide identity in Soueif's book, In the Eye of the Sun (1992). This essay argues that Soueif's characters live in the liminal space based on postcolonial theories by Homi K. Bhabha and his concept of the “third space”, zones that lie between East and West, between tradition and modernity, produce a new, hybrid feeling of belonging that challenges the concept of unified national and cultural narratives. These cultural experiences give rise to transnational identities where one becomes the sum of all their experiences. Soueif's travels suggest that identity is a map to be developed rather than a boundary to be preserved.