EXPLORING IDENTITY CRISES IN "AUTUMN" BY ALI SMITH
EXPLORING IDENTITY CRISES IN "AUTUMN" BY ALI SMITH

Summary/Abstract: This study deals with the identity crises generated by Brexit and their projection in literary texts focusing on Autumn by Ali Smith. The objective of the study is to explore the two dimensions of the identity crises interconnected in the novel, namely the individual identity crisis, Elisabeth Demand’s inner struggle, and the national identity crisis related to the moment when the 2016 Referendum took place in the UK, and to analyse the linguistic means that the author employed for the depiction of the crises. The study is based on a qualitative approach which involves exploring the linguistic representation of the above-mentioned identity crises, dwelling on Erikson’s theory of identity crisis and providing a critical stylistic analysis. To this purpose, we selected a set of tools presented by Jeffries (2010, p.3) in “Critical stylistics: The Power of English” to uncover ideologies and expose the author’s standpoint at the level of language. The findings reveal the fact that the critical stylistics tools provide insights into the meaning of the texts and underscore ideological viewpoints in the literary text under investigation. The analysis invites to reflection on such issues as individual and national identity in UK’s post-Brexit period and the way in which language, implicitly or explicitly, consciously or unconsciously, covers ideologies. It provides context for further discussions surrounding post-Brexit identity crises and their projection in literary texts.

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