Frameworks of Memory in Recent American Fiction

The monograph analyzes the fictional representations of memory and forgetting and the roles it plays in identity construction and in the adjustment of immigrants and exiles. It focuses on post-immigrant and exile fiction by contemporary American writers of East-Central European descent: Askold Melnyczuk, Domnica Radulescu, and Aleksandar Hemon.

Based on the theory and methodology of transcultural memory, this book describes and analyzes the fictional representations of memory and forgetting and the multiple roles they play in identity construction of immigrants and exiles. It focuses on fiction by contemporary American writers of East-Central European descent: Askold Melnyczuk, Domnica Radulescu, and Aleksandar Hemon. The analysis of selected novels highlights a distinct historical slant with elements of generational memory, memory of places, rememory, and postmemory. The author introduces and develops the concept of post-immigrant ethnic fiction and identifies a mnemonic pattern characteristic of American post-immigrant ethnic and exile writing.

Autorentext

Marta Koval is Professor at the Institute of English and American Studies, University of Gdansk. Her research interests include postwar American fiction, historical novel in the late 20th-early 21st centuries, exile fiction, American ethnic fiction, memory studies, and transcultural studies.

Inhalt

Post-immigrant ethnic fiction exile narratives cultural memory generational memory generationality generativity forgetting silence memory of places traumatic memory historical slant Askold Melnyczuk Aleksandar Hemon Domnica Radulescu