The Immigrant Experience Through Literature: Novels, Short Stories, Poetry
Annotation:Revolutionary politics of 1880s New York centers around three generations of a Jewish immigrant family.
Annotation:A collection of immigrant stories by an author who emigrated from Romania.
Annotation:Short stories recount the family life of a Jewish immigrant girl in the early 1920s.
Annotation:In 1963 a young woman from Trinidad attends a Wisconsin college.
Annotation:A Honduran actor tries to survive in the "Big Banana"; New York City.
Annotation:A young woman struggles to free herself from the traditional female role in an Orthodox Jewish family.
Annotation:A portrait of the intergenerational and cultural conflicts within a Korean family.
Annotation:This novel explores the universal conflict between mother and daughter through the voices of a young Korean-American girl and her spiritual mother.
Annotation:Disowned by her Cuban family, Lydia works as a seamstress in New York.
Annotation:East and West clash in this arresting novel set in India and the US.
Annotation:The Philippine Rivera family comes to the United States to make a new life.
Annotation:A first collection of poems by a Cuban exile, written in English and Spanish.
Annotation:In this first novel Iliana, a Dominican immigrant, attends college in New York.
Annotation:A Japanese man of Korean birth strives to become part of the melting pot.
Annotation:An anthology of stories by noted authors about the immigrant experience.
Annotation:A former colonel in the Iranian army contends with life in Miami.
Annotation:An Irish immigrant settles in Paterson, NJ and falls in love with his host's wife.
Annotation:Short stories based on the author's family who were poor Polish immigrants.
Annotation:Winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, this accomplished collection of short stories explores the lives of Indian immigrants.
Annotation:Eight literary portraits of Irish immigrants who settled in the 19th Century.
Annotation:A Nigerian street vendor in Harlem seeks residency in the U.S.A.
Annotation:A young Amerasian comes to terms with his own identity and memories of a lost half-brother.
Annotation:An insightful story by a Vietnamese American about the war experience.
Annotation:Picaresque novel about a Russian artist who tries his luck in the United States.
Annotation:Nineteen short stories dealing with the experiences of Indian immigrants.
Annotation:This collection deals with the Nicaraguan poet's experiences in World War I and as an exile from his homeland.
Annotation:In eight lively stories, the author chronicles Chinese and other immigrant groups as they exuberantly take on America.
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The extraordinary ethnic diversity of the United States is due to the vast numbers of immigrants who have settled here. Many Americans today grew up listening to stories from their parents or grandparents about what it was like to come to a new country and struggle to build a life for themselves and their families. In relocating from one country to another, newcomers have had to find a way to make a living, in addition to adjusting to an unfamiliar culture and often a new language. Through expressive novels, short stories, poetry, plays, biographies and memoirs that have been recently published, the books on this list describe the immigrant experience by those who have lived it.
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