recommendations: immigrants and more

Hi there,

I am new to this site. I am researching immigrants and would appreciate any recommendations on classic works such as novels, personal accounts, books (i.e. academic books), etc. on immigrants (infused with cultural-related notions such as Lost in Translation)...I am also interested in books about ethnic groups (i.e. Chinese, Latin American, African American, etc) and their cultural experiences (e.g. The Polished Hoe). I have read a number of popular books and am more interested in classic works.

Here are some of the books I have read:
Lost in Translation; The Kite Runner; The Arrival; The Namesake; Interpreter of Maladies; The Polished Hoe (Canadian author, excellent book); Black like Who?; Immigrant Blues; and Erique's Journey.

Thanks for your suggestions!

One I can think straight off my head is Roots by Alex Haley, where Kunta Kinte was sold into slavery, I dont think this is exactly immigration, but it has a lot to do with blending and adapting to the new environment which all immigrants has to go through. I was an immigrant too, and heck it was so hard for me first, I remember crying my heart out when I was 5, language being the milestone that was arduous to step over.

Heh, one of my specialties. The beautifully written In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje is a contemporary example, as is Joy Kogawa's Obasan, and Arthur Clarke's The Question, as well as other works by these authors. Another good book is The Jade Peony by Choy (can't remember her first name) and the classic Second Scroll by A. M. Klein.


If you want the real classic brutal stuff though, go with Susana Moody's Roughing it in the Bush, which deals with what happens when a upper-middle class English woman goes to be a pioneer in harsh weather - the winter episodes are rather great, and ironically, her sister Catherine Parr Traill's In the Backwoods of Canada, who offers the exact opposite reaction, and actually adapts perfectly.

Another good contemporary book is Nino Ricci's Lives of the Saints, dealing with, mostly, the journey towards immigration, and not as much about the actual living in the new world, but still a very good novel, and one I would recommend.


In truth though, I am rather unimpressed by the many American immigrant narratives. Mainly because, whereas the Canadian equivalents deal with keeping identity within the new country, and maintaining tradition, I feel the American ones deal with adapting, and becoming American, to which, my Canadian viewpoint simply cannot accept easily.

Are you looking specifically for immigrant narratives about people in the United States?

Because I can recommend quite a few (although only a couple that are pre-20th century) about people traveling from Africa to different countries in Europe. I'm not very up on North or South American immigrant narratives.

One thing that comes to mind is Claire de Duras' Ourika, the potentially true tale of a young Senegalese woman saved from slavery and living in France. It's from the 1800s and set during the time of the French revolution.

What counts as "classic" to you? That is actually a more significant question than location. Do you just mean things other than contemporary fiction that are canonized in some way? Or are you really looking for things that are old?

"The Letters that Never Came", by Mauricio Rosencof, beautifully depicts the experience of Polish-Jewish immigrants to Latin America (Uruguay, to be more specific). It also deals with several other issues.

I think there is a Swedish book called "Immigrants" but I'm going to check it tomorrow and tell you.

Small Island by Andrea Levy explores the links between Jamaica and the UK, but is a modern book.
Dracula has been argued to have an underlying anti-immigration theme/warning

There is a nice site that recommends books relating to different cultures and countries. Give them a try maybe. treklit.com

Malamud's The Assistant deals with coming to terms with meeting different cultures.

My Antonia - by Willa Cather
Middlesex - by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Joy Luck Club - Amy Tan
Snow Falling on Cedars - by David Guterson

The Hunger of Memory by Richard Rodriguez is probably the best immigrant novel i've read. It explores the difficulties surrounding language, socialization, and cultural assimilation.

About what I told you earlier,there is a Swedish book in two volumes called "The Immigrants",by Vilhelm Moberg.

The most recent great novel on immigrants is certainly "The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears" by the Ethiopian writer Dinaw Mengestu, which won several awards last year.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Remarkable

About what I told you earlier,there is a Swedish book in two volumes called "The Immigrants",by Vilhelm Moberg.

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Full reference for the paperback English translation (4 volumes) is
Book I: The Emigrants
Book II Unto a Good Land
Book III The Settlers
Book IV The Last Letter Home

Translated from the Swedish by Gustaf Lannestock, Minnesota Historical Society (Borealis Books, 1995)

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair deals with immigrants from e.Europe to Chicago on the 19th Century.aClassic if ever there was one.

There is a famous book on The Polish Peasant in Europe and America by William I. Thomas and Florian Znaniecki. The Wikipedia item also has this to say.

The Polish Peasant in Europe and America is a book by Florian Znaniecki and William I. Thomas, considered to be one of the classics of sociology. The book is a study of Polish immigrants and their families, based on personal documents, and was published in five volumes in the years 1918 to 1920.

Another is the study of Italian immigrants in the USA in Boston North Side: By William Foote Whyte who, using participant observation researched and wrote Street Corner Society (1943).

This is something of a classic.