American Ethnic and Immigrant Novels: A Mere Commodity or a Discourse of Resistance and Reformation?

Abstract

Over the years critics and scholars have not only accused ethnic and immigrant literature of being hackneyed and apolitical but also of becoming a commodity for the consumption of cultural fetishists. The increase in the publication of literary works produced by ethnic and immigrant American writers in the recent times has yet again sparked the longstanding debate over the commodification of ethnic and immigrant narratives. This paper is an attempt to contend such allegation and make a case for this genre. Centering the discussion on some of the salient literary works of Latino/a American and South Asian American writers and relying on Fredric Jameson's theory of "political unconscious" and Ramón Saldívar's theoretical perspective expressed in Chicano Narratives: The Dialectics of Difference, I demonstrate that ethnic and immigrant narratives have ideological subtexts and political and cultural implications. Concurrently, I attest that by experimenting with various writing styles and techniques the writers of this genre successfully navigate between authentic political engagement and commercial success.