Immigrants and Identity: American Fiction of Exile and Immigration from the Scholars’ Perspective

Abstract

This article discusses the core theme of identity within the emerging genre of Immigrant literature within American literature. In today’s world of globalization which favours inclusion, immigrants continue ties or associations with multiple places. Still, they tend to identify with one country as home, which then impacts their identity formation along with integration. For this paper, three novels (The Woman Warrior, Song of Solomon and Breath, Eyes, Memory) have been selected to be discussed.  The novels hail from the Chinese-American, African-American and Haitian- American backdrops respectively.  Studying fiction from American immigrants of multiple dissents gives more depth to the thematic and structural perspective on the genre. Each novel is first discussed with respect to its plot structure and then a detailed over-view is given on the scholars take on each novel. The discussion is based on the existing scholarship on the selected novels. This helps to create a perspective and build context on the American Fiction of Exile and Immigration for critics aspiring to get acquainted with the particular strand of literature.