Perspectives
To engage in a broader conversation about “My Son the Fanatic” by Hanif Kureishi, we recommend that you also consider the literary period when it was written, similar works, and screen adaptation…
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Literary period
Published in 1994, the short story fits the literary movement called postmodernism. In “My Son the Fanatic”, we see this because the short story explores postmodernist themes such as conflicts between generations, cultural differences, and identity in a time contemporary with the autho…
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Works with the same theme
To see how other writers explore identity and cultural differences, you could read Sarfraz Manzoor’s article “Second Generasians”.
In “Second Generasians”, Sarfraz Manzoor tells his own story as a second-generation immigrant who was raised with both British and Pakistani values. He also makes a comparison between the first generation of immigrants, represented by his parents, the second – represented by himself, and the third – a new generation of young Asians who take pride in their cul…
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Screen adaptations
“My Son the Fanatic” was adapted into a 1997 British drama film with the same title. The script was written by Hanif Kureishi himself and is an adaptation of his short story. We encourage you to watch at least the trailer and observe some of the differ…