Abjection of Mother(land)

Abstract

Abstract This article presents a psychoanalytic reading of The Age of Orphans, the first installment of a trilogy by the Kurdish Iranian American novelist Laleh Khadivi. Drawing on Julia Kristeva’s theory of abjection and using close reading, this study explores different forms of abjection in the novel, both thematically and textually. By doing so, the article attempts to uncover the meanings of the novel’s fictional world, as well as its historical, political, and cultural context. Finally, this study, relying on Kristeva’s theory of intertextuality, reveals how the writings of Khadivi, a second-generation immigrant geographically and generationally distant from her Kurdish roots, contribute to Kurdish literature and literary expressions.