Identity quest under the pen of Victor Hugo and Ismail Kadaré

Abstract

What is an individual? Where does his identity lie? All novels are looking for an answer to this question.Indeed, by what does a self-define it-self? Milan KunderaThe need to know oneself, to assert one's identity, belongs to each individual, each community and each culture. Identity can be considered as the temporary result of a cultural process in constant transformation.The study focuses on two literary works, Les Misérables by Victor Hugo and Avril Brisé by Ismail Kadaré, with the common theme of the quest for identity. The particularity of the character of Victor Hugo lies in the quest for his identity. Jean Valjean is in the center of Les Misérables and becomes a testimony to the power of the quest for identity. Hardened by prison and saved by the kindness of Mr. Myriel, Valjean is a symbol of the courage to be oneself and to assert oneself in front of others with an ability to change. After accepting to change the identity in all forms, the character accepts the world in which he lives, since, in the end, he occupies a place in society: Mayor of Montreuil and father of the little Cosette. Ismail Kadaré marks the opening of Albanian literature on the world, highlighting the Albanian identity and portraying in the image of each character the mark of the honor of the name and the family. In his novel, Avril Brisé talks about George, a young man, whom the company guides him and the first characteristic of the character is to wander on the roads of bessa rather than to act there.; In this quest, he knows in advance that his goal is only a desire, for the identity never allowed to identify oneself, to possess oneself fully; it belongs to Kanun, regulating the whole life and destiny of man. The issue of the quest for identity that runs through these two works will be analyzed, through the relationship between society and individual.