“Interpreter[s] of Maladies:” A Study of Some Selected Short Stories by Ahdaf Soueif and Jhumpa Lahiri

         In their short stories, both Ahdaf Soueif and Jhumpa Lahiri are preoccupied with representing the complexity of cultural encounters which are seen as a catalyst of identity formation as well as cultural hybridization. Their works of fiction show how identity is formed through mutual cultural translation in a world that is generally transcultural. The characters representing cultural encounters do not only assimilate or adopt the dominant culture of ex-colonizing society, but they manage to develop their own native culture and blend it with the mainstream one to fulfill their dreams. Such “blending” of cultures is, according to Welsch, a major feature of contemporary culture. He argues that
the deep differences between cultures are today diminishing more and more, that contemporary cultures are characterized by cross-culturing elements – and in this sense are to be comprehended as transcultural rather than monocultural.