Cognitive-Functional Perspective on Multicultural Identity Construction in Fiction

Abstract

The paper belongs to a series of articles with a focus on mental models, as construed and actualized in discourse and embodied in texts. Identity is treated as a type of the above-mentioned mental models. Supporting the constructivist stance on identity (in R. Brubaker and F. Cooper’s terms), the author postulates that identity is fragmented, multiple and fluid, being molded and interpreted in discourse, and a function of various historical and sociocultural factors. Using “Quichotte”, a 2019 novel by S. Rushdie, who represents postcolonial literature, the author argues that constructivist stance on identity is a rightful and fruitful approach to exploring identity construction through the prism of fictional texts, the latter seen as results of discursive activity. The purpose of the study is to analyze the writer’s essentially multilevel reflection on multicultural identity in the novel within the novel, taking into account the perspectives of different characters, and describe the means of multicultural identity construction. The conclusion is made that the constructivist approach to understanding identity does not hinder a researcher’s examination of the ways human self-understandings crystallize in texts.

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