Cultural Identity Located In The "Third Space"-A Postcolonial Reading Of Midnight's Children

The British-Indian writer Salman Rushdie is a pioneer in post-colonial literature and he is acclaimed as "Godfather of post-colonial literature" at the same time. The novel Midnight's Children is one of his works of great literary value. It has a great significance to analyze such a representative postcolonial work created by such a remarkable writer.The present study focused on Rushdie and his Midnight's Children from the postcolonial perspective. The author applied the postcolonial theory, especially hybridity and the "third space" to analyze cultural identity located in the "third space", which is neither the East nor the West, both the East and the West, and beyond the East and West. Rushdie's special cultural identity enabled him to have the dual perspectives to look at the world and to create such a masterpiece hybrid not only in content but also in form. The hybrid cultural contents in characters and images and the hybrid literary strategy in language, narrative pattern and the blending of fantasy and reality were discussed. They were all conducive to constructing the hybrid "third space." The "third space" is the between-in space where cultural identity can be located. The research also suggested that people of diverse cultures could coexist and harmony could follow in the "third space" in today's world.