BEYOND ABSURDITY: IDENTITY CRISIS AS THE ROOT OF EXISTENTIALISM IN POSTCOLONIAL SOCIETIES: A CRITICAL READING OF SALMAN RUSHDIE’S THE COURTER

Abstract

This study reinterprets existentialism in the postcolonial context by exploring how identity crisis—not absurdity—emerges as the central source of existential suffering. Departing from the traditional Western framework defined by Kierkegaard, Sartre, and Camus this paper examines Salman Rushdie’s short story “The Courter” as a compelling literary example of existential struggle shaped by colonial legacies, cultural fragmentation, and linguistic dislocation. The story’s diasporic characters, suspended between two worlds, reflect the psychological turmoil of those unable to anchor themselves within a fixed cultural identity. Through close textual analysis and postcolonial theoretical grounding, this research argues that Rushdie’s narrative replaces the absurd cosmos of Western existentialism with a crisis of belonging and fractured selfhood. The experiences of Ayah, the narrator, and the Courter underscore a longing for coherence in a world that has rendered their identities unstable. This paper calls for a decolonized reading of existential literature—one that understands meaninglessness not as metaphysical, but as a consequence of historical displacement and cultural hybridity.