Shadows of the Empire: Postcolonial Identity and Language in Contemporary Anglophone Literature

Abstract

This article examines the complex intersection of language, colonial legacy, and identity formation within contemporary Anglophone literature. Operating from a postcolonial framework, the study investigates how authors from formerly colonized nations appropriate and subvert the English language—historically an instrument of imperial domination—to articulate fractured, hybrid, and resistant identities. By engaging with the critical paradigms of linguistic decolonization and cultural hybridity, this paper argues that modern Anglophone literature does not merely adopt the colonizer’s tongue but fundamentally restructures it. Through an analysis of abrogative and appropriative linguistic strategies, the research demonstrates how the linguistic "margins" continuously dismantle and reshape the imperial "center," effectively transforming English into a pluralistic medium for postcolonial self-determination.