Frameworks of Memory in Recent American Fiction

Based on the theory and methodology of transcultural memory, this book describes and analyzes the fictional representations of memory and forgetting and the multiple roles they play in identity construction of immigrants and exiles. It focuses on fiction by contemporary American writers of East-Central European descent: Askold Melnyczuk, Domnica Radulescu, and Aleksandar Hemon. The analysis of selected novels highlights a distinct historical slant with elements of generational memory, memory of places, rememory, and postmemory. The author introduces and develops the concept of post-immigrant ethnic fiction and identifies a mnemonic pattern characteristic of American post-immigrant ethnic and exile writing.

Marta Koval is Professor at the Institute of English and American Studies, University of Gdansk. Her research interests include postwar American fiction, historical novel in the late 20^th–early 21^st centuries, exile fiction, American ethnic fiction, memory studies, and transcultural studies.