Greek Migrant Literature in the Early Roman Empire

This article argues that the concept of migrant literature, developed in postcolonial studies, is a useful tool for analysing Greek literature of the Early Roman Empire (27 BC-AD 68). The city of Rome attracted huge numbers of migrants from across the Mediterranean. Among them were many writers from Hellenized provinces like Egypt, Syria and Asia, who wrote in Greek. Leaving their native regions and travelling to Rome, they moved between cultures, responding in Greek to the new world order. Early imperial Greek writers include Strabo of Amasia, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Nicolaus of Damascus, Timagenes of Alexandria, Crinagoras of Mytilene, Philo of Alexandria and Paul of Tarsus. What connects these authors of very different origins, styles, beliefs, and literary genres is migrancy. They are migrant writers whose works are characterized by in-betweenness, ambivalence and polyphony.

Between two worlds: a study of migrant writers in New Zealand

<p>This thesis begins with a consideration of what constitutes migrant writing, and points to the difficulties in arriving at an absolute definition. Some justification is given for the fact that the ensuing discussion concerns short stories alone, and some of the particular qualities of the short story which make it an appropriate form for migrant literature are examined. The first chapter also makes a brief survey of the context for migrant writing within New Zealand literature, and compares the work of several short story writers, migrant and non-migrant. The work of two New Zealand migrant short story writers is discussed closely in the chapters that follow: Amelia Batistich's stories are examined in Chapter Two, and Yvonne du Fresne's in Chapter Three. In each discussion, formal qualities are given equal attention as matters of content and theme. The final chapter attempts to draw connections between the work of these two writers and the problems of definition raised in the first chapter. Consideration is also given to the attitudes and expectations of readers of migrant fiction. The appendices to the thesis contain biographies of Amelia Batistich and Yvonne du Fresne, and transcripts of conversations with them. The conversations were recorded in 1984, and have been lightly edited. A bibliography is included which provides a selective guide to the two authors published and unpublished work, and a full account of all secondary material consulted.</p>

Between two worlds: a study of migrant writers in New Zealand

<p>This thesis begins with a consideration of what constitutes migrant writing, and points to the difficulties in arriving at an absolute definition. Some justification is given for the fact that the ensuing discussion concerns short stories alone, and some of the particular qualities of the short story which make it an appropriate form for migrant literature are examined. The first chapter also makes a brief survey of the context for migrant writing within New Zealand literature, and compares the work of several short story writers, migrant and non-migrant. The work of two New Zealand migrant short story writers is discussed closely in the chapters that follow: Amelia Batistich's stories are examined in Chapter Two, and Yvonne du Fresne's in Chapter Three. In each discussion, formal qualities are given equal attention as matters of content and theme. The final chapter attempts to draw connections between the work of these two writers and the problems of definition raised in the first chapter. Consideration is also given to the attitudes and expectations of readers of migrant fiction. The appendices to the thesis contain biographies of Amelia Batistich and Yvonne du Fresne, and transcripts of conversations with them. The conversations were recorded in 1984, and have been lightly edited. A bibliography is included which provides a selective guide to the two authors published and unpublished work, and a full account of all secondary material consulted.</p>

Identität und Sprache des Migranten in der Fremde im Werk von Franco Biondi

Seen from the point of view of literary-sociological studies, Franco Biondi’s works are part of the migrant and foreign literatures which emerged in Germany in the wake of the recruitment of foreign labour starting in the 1950s. This literature – written by authors who are not Germans in the sense of the old German nationality and citizenship legislation, but who live in Germany and have their works published in the German language area – was formerly called ‘guest-worker literature’. Then, in the 1980s, it was referred to as a literature of ‘shock and stunned silence’, and in the 1990s as ‘migrant literature’ or ‘literature of foreign parts’. The theme in Biondi ’s works is the break with origin and the process of ‘coming-to-language’ of the identity that is forming through the medium of language in the encounter with the foreign. Immigration for Biondi becomes immigration into a new language.

Multicultural Little Italy: A Literary Comparison of Canadian and US Urban Enclaves

Drawing on Paul Moses’ An Unlikely Union: The Love-Hate Story of New York’s Irish and Italians (2015), this article explores the history and literary reflection of multicultural cities. Particularly, Louisa Ermelino’s novel The Sisters Mallone (2002) challenges accepted views of certain urban enclaves as ghettos. This assumption obscures cross-cultural relations and renders superficial the term multicultural as only a mosaic of discrete cultures living together. In this respect, a comparison to official multiculturalism in Canada discusses the complex nature of identity and belonging. A unique case study is Quebec, as is reflected in the position of the trilingual writer and the affiliation to world literature. This article is divided into two parts. Firstly, it analyzes a literary text that looks at US ethnic relations beyond conflict and segregation. The second part, using Italian/Canadian literary history, reflects on Canada as a multicultural country characterized by cultural diversity yet where cultural difference entails unequal power relationships such as regarding migrants and migrant literature.

Fractures identitaires dans Rue des Tambourins de Taos Amrouche

"We aim to identify the thematic elements that shape the imagination of identity confusion. Indeed, besides inventing a new rhetoric to express the identity crisis, Taos Amrouche has discussed the same major themes of migrant literature, giving them a self-related dimension. We will investigate how the geographical exile of the Iakouren is coupled with the identity exile in which they are locked up due to the confrontation with various groups which instill in them the feeling of irreducible difference. This difference is particularly obvious in the mind of the narrator Marie-Corail, who, under the influence of two opposing cultures – the tribal Arab culture that strongly bonds with the ancestors, on the one hand, and the Western culture, on the other – will find herself at an impasse."

Border Crossing and Self-Placement of Characters with a Migratory Background in Contemporary German Novels

The existence of a “Migrant literature” is heavily debated in German studies, especially when it comes to authors like those of the third voice, who are socialized in Germany and speak German as their mother tongue. Nonetheless, novels that deal with migration and living with migrant backgrounds have similar characteristics. This article is primarily about the topic of crossing borders in such migrant novels by Olga Grjasnowa, Sasha Marianna Salzmann and Dimitrij Kapitelman. Which effects does border crossing have on characters with a migration background? The novels examined are not only characterized by a border crossing of migration from east to west, but actually even by multiple border crossings on different levels, that are always linked to each other. The literature of the third voice unites aspects of migration, but equally also aspects of adolescent literature and family sagas. That is shown, among other things, in the presentation and meaning of boundaries and their crossings as identity-creating moments and as coping strategies. Therefore, these border crosser stories enable new perspectives compared to conventional family sagas and adolescent literature.

Rewriting the Nation: German-Turkish Transformations of the Bildungsroman

Literatures arising in the context of migration and cultural contact are known to provoke the nationally confined canonisation of literature. While the view that so-called ‘migrant literature’ does belong to German literature and culture is widely established within recent scholarship, the literary means of claiming space in the national canon are still an under-researched topic. The purpose of the study is to analyse the literary means of claiming space in the national canon and thereby investigate the permeability of its boundaries. By rewriting a canonical genre of German literature, which is historically linked to the emergence of a sense of a national identity, the analysed German-Turkish texts are using the Bildungsroman as a frame of reference to articulate pluralistic national identities. They further inscribe historical representations that have been omitted from dominant historical discourse into the national cultural memory. While rewriting the genre, the texts participate in the actualisation of the Bildungsroman and thereby reposition its traditional boundaries. Finally, the novels express the need to renegotiate the concept of the nation as well as its demand for homogeneity.

The Impact of Mobility on the Imagination of Protestant Identity

Chapter 9 argues that practically the entire corpus of Irish Protestant writing of the seventeenth century is susceptible to a reading as migrant literature. It offers a series of brief case studies of particular authors and texts to demonstrate the ubiquity of migrant experience in shaping this literary production. The chapter concentrates in particular on Sir John Temple’s The Irish Rebellion, arguing that this became the ur-text of Protestant identity in Ireland, and highlights the manner in which this book gave an enduring voice to the displaced refugees of the 1641 rebellion. Other authors discussed include Andrew Stewart the Presbyterian historian, John Vesey, and his portrayal of John Bramhall, Sir James Ware, and James Ussher.

Transnationalism and Testimonio in Contemporary Central American Migrant Literature

This article explores contemporary Central American literature dealing with transnationalism in migrant narratives from the region within the framework of testimonio. The transnational elements in literary texts read as testimonio were also present in previous Latin American narratives but were ignored in critical writing about this genre. These elements often included two countries, and involved transmission of, as well as continuous negotiation between, different languages. Moreover, the immediate translation of these texts into English made them available more to an international audience than to the citizens of the countries in which they were mostly set. Taking Odyssey to the North by Mario Bencastro, and The Tattooed Soldier by Hector Tobar as my point of reference, I will argue that these and several other contemporary Central American works of fiction can be read as testimonio. These works, by focusing attention on the repercussions of the civil war in a new context, depict migration to the United States