Hyphenated identities in Mordecai Richler's Novels

Abstract

Despite many traditional aspects in Mordecai Richler’s novels, mostly concerning form and structure, his protagonists are expressions of a determined place and time, notably post II-World-War Montreal, and they well embody the status of ‘hyphenated identities’. The case of Montreal is special in this sense, since Jewish Canadians represent a considerably vast minority of the population, and they are evident examples of ‘hyphenated identities’ due to their origins and culture. Identity can be explored in relation to place and time, which forcedly change, and in a larger sense in a geographical and temporal cyclic movement, in the attempt to build an identity more than forcing it into a definition. Finally, the rejection of a fixed identity can also be seen as the attempt to escape frames and strict definitions, more than reducing it to a simple lack.