REFLECTING ON BRITISH IDENTITY, WITH A FOCUS ON THE SHORT STORIES ZOO AND SAVING GRACE BY GRAHAM SWIFT
REFLECTING ON BRITISH IDENTITY, WITH A FOCUS ON THE SHORT STORIES ZOO AND SAVING GRACE BY GRAHAM SWIFT

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of the paper is to analyze traditional British identity, culture and society comes into the foreground in the short stories Zoo and Saving Grace, where Swift no longer ignores the contemporary aspect and issues of Great Britain. The characters in Zoo and Saving Grace, who are Lucy and Dr Shah respectively, are conflicted between their Filipina and Indian identities, respectively. They reflect the way in which the story is structured based on an interior conflict or psychological dilemma of the characters whose monologues readers witness. At the same time, they reflect the strong attachment to traditional British culture and identity which has been previously present in Swiftʼs works by ignoring aspects of contemporary Great Britain. Both short stories are part of two volumes, Twelve Post-War Tales (2025) and England (2014) and Other Stories, which deal with characters belonging to the former British colonies and who are of mixed cultural identities and the way they relate to British society. However, Swift manages to return to his same themes and concerns, which are related to a strong attachment to traditional British cultural identity. The analysis of the two novels relies on reader-response criticism, and especially on the way in which readers build up background knowledge based on his previous works. They manage to create connections through free associations and through identifying allusions to intertextual references Swift makes to his own works or, at least, through the way in which readers feel prompted to use intertextual references they can identify to Swiftʼs previous works.

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