The Question of Identity in Gary Shteyngart’s Little Failure

• Main Author: Maior Enikő
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sciendo 2015-12-01
• Series: Acta Universitatis Sapientiae: Philologica
• Subjects: identity; jewish american identity; culture clash
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1515/ausp-2015-0041

In my paper I want to deal with the question of identity and Gary Shteyngart’s last novel, Little Failure (2014). The novel is a memoir that deals with young Gary’s struggle as an individual of Russian Jewish origins trying to accommodate himself to the American way of life. America with its multicultural and multiethnic environment puts the immigrant Gary in a very sensitive position. He does not know how to deal with African Americans; shall he avoid them or rim away? Shall he befriend Asian colleagues or not? Are Jewish friends more valuable than others? These are the questions that Gary Shteyngart has to answer and find his own voice. The protagonist of the novel under discussion tries to find his identity which is in continuous change. He tries to figure out in a world filled with cultural, racial and urban conflicts his own identity from the perspective of a former immigrant and as a member of a minority group. The task of my paper is to show how the question of identity has changed and what solution Shteyngart’s novel can offer for the protagonist in the process of identity formation.