Transnational Migrant Fiction as World Literature: Identity, Translatability, and the Global Book Market
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Kai Wiegandt
Abstract
In recent decades, a new literary genre written mainly by authors from the Global South living in North America and Europe has emerged. Mostly written in English, but also in French, German, and other languages, the (graphic) novels and stories of the genre describe the formation of migrant identities that do not primarily rely on nationality - neither on the original nationality nor on that affiliated with the destination country. Instead, these identities are formed by a variety of almost equal factors such as the birthplace of one’s parents, one’s place of residence, work, language, education, lifestyle, and culture. In this transnational migration fiction, the creation of identity resembles a collage of cultural elements from both the home and target cultures, between which the authors often oscillate. Discussing Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah, and Taiye Selasi’s Ghana Must Go, this chapter demonstrates how the modelling of identity in transnational migrant fiction is related to the function of the genre in the global book market: transnational migrant fiction is read around the world because it provides insights into foreign cultures, which makes it a particular kind of world literature as defined by David Damrosch. The genre’s success is partly due to the way that it meets Western readers’ sensibilities halfway. It suggests a continuity between the world of the Western reader with the foreign culture. Thematically, this continuity is suggested by conflicts that exist across national borders, such as social inequality and discrimination based on ethnicity and gender. This creates the impression of a general human situation, the local characteristics of which remain translatable.
Abstract
In recent decades, a new literary genre written mainly by authors from the Global South living in North America and Europe has emerged. Mostly written in English, but also in French, German, and other languages, the (graphic) novels and stories of the genre describe the formation of migrant identities that do not primarily rely on nationality - neither on the original nationality nor on that affiliated with the destination country. Instead, these identities are formed by a variety of almost equal factors such as the birthplace of one’s parents, one’s place of residence, work, language, education, lifestyle, and culture. In this transnational migration fiction, the creation of identity resembles a collage of cultural elements from both the home and target cultures, between which the authors often oscillate. Discussing Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah, and Taiye Selasi’s Ghana Must Go, this chapter demonstrates how the modelling of identity in transnational migrant fiction is related to the function of the genre in the global book market: transnational migrant fiction is read around the world because it provides insights into foreign cultures, which makes it a particular kind of world literature as defined by David Damrosch. The genre’s success is partly due to the way that it meets Western readers’ sensibilities halfway. It suggests a continuity between the world of the Western reader with the foreign culture. Thematically, this continuity is suggested by conflicts that exist across national borders, such as social inequality and discrimination based on ethnicity and gender. This creates the impression of a general human situation, the local characteristics of which remain translatable.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Introduction: The Concept of the Transnational in Literary Studies 1
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1 The Transnational amongst Related Concepts in Theory and Marketing
- Mixed Attachments in Girish Karnad’s Hayavadana (1971) 21
- Transnational Challenges for World Literatures: Publishing Caribbean Writers 44
- “Transnational Decolonial Aesthetics”: The “Hottentot Venus” Re-Configured 56
- Precariously Transnational: Teju Cole’s Every Day Is for the Thief 76
- The Discursive Construction of Transnational Fiction on Penguin Random House Group Websites 89
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2 Transnational Literary Histories
- Utopia, Limited: Transnational Utopianism and Intercultural Imaginaries of the Ideal 107
- Travel Literature and/as Transnational Theatre History – Beyond National Theatre Cultures 124
- Transnationally Forged Nationality: Le Brésil littéraire and the Writing of Literary History in the Nineteenth Century 142
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3 Poetics and Politics of Transnational Genres
- Historical Horizons: The Historical Novel and Transnational Memory 169
- Re-centring European Geopolitics: Transnational Identities in the Twenty-First- Century Hungarian-Language Novel from Slovakia 189
- Transnational Migrant Fiction as World Literature: Identity, Translatability, and the Global Book Market 206
- Translinguistic Theatre for a Globalised Stage? 226
- Works Cited 239
- Notes on Contributors 259
- Index 263
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Introduction: The Concept of the Transnational in Literary Studies 1
-
1 The Transnational amongst Related Concepts in Theory and Marketing
- Mixed Attachments in Girish Karnad’s Hayavadana (1971) 21
- Transnational Challenges for World Literatures: Publishing Caribbean Writers 44
- “Transnational Decolonial Aesthetics”: The “Hottentot Venus” Re-Configured 56
- Precariously Transnational: Teju Cole’s Every Day Is for the Thief 76
- The Discursive Construction of Transnational Fiction on Penguin Random House Group Websites 89
-
2 Transnational Literary Histories
- Utopia, Limited: Transnational Utopianism and Intercultural Imaginaries of the Ideal 107
- Travel Literature and/as Transnational Theatre History – Beyond National Theatre Cultures 124
- Transnationally Forged Nationality: Le Brésil littéraire and the Writing of Literary History in the Nineteenth Century 142
-
3 Poetics and Politics of Transnational Genres
- Historical Horizons: The Historical Novel and Transnational Memory 169
- Re-centring European Geopolitics: Transnational Identities in the Twenty-First- Century Hungarian-Language Novel from Slovakia 189
- Transnational Migrant Fiction as World Literature: Identity, Translatability, and the Global Book Market 206
- Translinguistic Theatre for a Globalised Stage? 226
- Works Cited 239
- Notes on Contributors 259
- Index 263
