Arab American Literary Fictions, Cultures, and Politics

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American Literature Readings in the 21st Century Series Editor: Linda Wagner-Martin American Literature Readings in the 21st Century publishes works by contemporary critics that help shape critical opinion regarding literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the United States. Published by Palgrave Macmillan Freak Shows in Modern American Imagination: Constructing the Damaged Body from Willa Cather to Truman Capote By Thomas Fahy Arab American Literary Fictions, Cultures, and Politics By Steven Salaita Women and Race in Contemporary U.S. Writing: From Faulkner to Morrison By Kelly Lynch Reames

Arab American Literary Fictions, Cultures, and Politics

Steven Salaita

ARAB AMERICAN LITERARY FICTIONS, CULTURES, AND POLITICS

© Steven Salaita, 2007. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2007 978-1-4039-7620-8 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. First published in 2007 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN™ 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 and Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England RG21 6XS Companies and representatives throughout the world. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-53687-0 ISBN 978-0-230-60337-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230603370 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: January 2007 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Content s

Preface

vii

Acknowledgments

xi

Introduction Searching Diversities: Observations of an Arab Ex-Student

1

1 Problems of Inclusion: Arab American Studies and Ambiguous States of Being

17

2 The Internationalization of the Nation: The Uses of the Lebanese Civil War in Arab American Fiction

51

3 Honesty Lost: The Strange Circumstances of Love, Death, and Norma Khouri

87

4 Escaping Inadequate Spaces: Anti-Arab Racism and Liberating Fictions

109

Conclusion Multicultural and Monocultural Disjunctions

143

Notes

155

Bibliography

181

Index

193

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Preface

I start with a confession: I have always been suspicious of the monograph. This isn’t to say that I have problems with it as a genre, for it is an excellent means for scholars to present complex and specialized information to other scholars, who will then transmit that information to students and society at large (the author of the monograph, of course, himself or herself usually does these things, as well). I also like the system in which scholars can find the means to communicate research findings free of crude market fluctuations and