The Hyphenated Self: Immigrant Identity in Contemporary American Fiction

Abstract

Contemporary American fiction has increasingly focused on the experiences of immigrants negotiating identity in multicultural societies. The notion of the “hyphenated self” encapsulates the dual or multiple identities experienced by immigrants who simultaneously belong to two or more cultures. This paper examines how contemporary American novelists represent immigrant identity through themes of displacement, cultural hybridity, memory, language, assimilation, and belonging. Drawing upon postcolonial theories of identity, diaspora studies, and cultural criticism, the study analyses selected works by Jhumpa Lahiri, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Mohsin Hamid. These writers portray immigrant identity as fluid rather than fixed, revealing the complexities of negotiating cultural inheritance while adapting to new social realities. The paper argues that contemporary American fiction challenges essentialist notions of national identity and instead celebrates hybridity as a defining feature of modern multicultural America.