Multicultural Adolescence and Its Identitary Vicissitudes in Contemporary British Short Stories

Abstract

The present chapter deals with the specific identitary vicissitudes of the multicultural young protagonists of the short stories chosen for discussion: Hanif Kureishi’s “Touched” (2002), Leila Aboulela’s “The Boy from the Kebab Shop” (2001) and Diriye Osman’s “Shoga” (2013). On account of its brevity, concentration and other formal features, the short form reveals itself as an apt vehicle for the fictional rendition of liminal moments of crisis such as those experienced by the main characters in the pieces under scrutiny.