If certain books are to be termed immigrant fiction, what do we call the rest? Native fiction? Puritan fiction? This distinction doesn’t agree with me. Given the history of the United States, all American fiction could be classified as immigrant fiction.
In an interview with the New York Times, Jhumpa Lahiri discusses her all-time favs, the books she reads to her children, and her problems with the term “immigrant fiction.”
Apparently, she’s on an Italian kick, and her current reading list is full of enchanting-sounding books that will be new to many American readers.