The Migrant Text
Making and Marketing a Global French Literature
Description
The expression "littérature migrante," coined by Québécois critics in the mid-1980s, reflected the emerging body of literary works written by recent immigrants to the province. Redefining the concept of migrancy, Subha Xavier’s The Migrant Text argues that global movements of people have fundamentally changed literary production over the past thirty years. Bringing together a corpus of recent novels by immigrants to France and Quebec, Xavier suggests that these diverse works extend beyond labels such as francophone or postcolonial literature to forge a new mode of writing that deserves recognition on its own terms. Weaving together literary theory and salient examples taken from numerous French-language novels, The Migrant Text shows how both external and internal factors shape migrant writing in contemporary French literature. The opening chapters trace the elusive concept of the migrant as it appears in extant theories of nationalism, postcolonialism, world literature, and francophonie. What follows are incisive analyses of fiction written for French audiences by authors from Algeria, Cameroon, China, Haiti, Iraq, and Poland, whose works reveal that the processes of troubling national categories and evading colonial power dynamics can be wellsprings for creativity. One of the most pressing social and political topics of our day, immigration challenges our ideas about homeland and citizenship. Celebrating the courage and tenacity of immigrants from around the world, The Migrant Text carves a new space for discussing the dynamics of global literature.
Reviews
"This insightful, meticulously researched work contributes history, synthesis of ideas and relevant new conceptions to the field [of literary migration studies]." The French Review
"Thanks to the breadth and depth of its theoretical engagement and the elegance and clarity of its close readings of literary texts, this book will be of interest to any scholars who study the works of immigrant writers. It can serve both as an overview o
"In this wide-ranging and well-organized contribution to the terms we need today to engage with the transformations of the literary field as a result of ever-greater population movements, Subha Xavier focuses on how the work [of migrant authors to France
"What makes this book amazingly convincing are the insightful analyses of key literary works, which help illuminate the concept of the 'migrant text,' and provide in themselves superb examples of contemporary critical readings. The Migrant Text is an original and excellent contribution that should have an extensive readership." François Paré, University of Waterloo
"Xavier's genius comes to the fore in a discussion of the often overlooked topic of marketing and the demands of the marketplace on authors and publishers... While there may be purely economic studies of the issue, Xavier's approach is unique in combining