Eleventh Global Studies Conference

Abstract

In his Introduction to Imaginary Homelands, Rushdie comments on the shaping influence of memory and nostalgia in immigrant writings. He notes, “It was precisely the partial nature of these memories, their fragmentation, that made them so evocative for me.” He then continues, “The broken glass is not merely a mirror of nostalgia. It is also . . .a useful tool with which to work in the present.” With Rusdie’s ideas in mind, I explore in my paper, how nostalgia and memory play a key role in shaping immigrant identity. My inquiry includes the question whether nostalgia impacts immigrant identity positively or otherwise. How is nostalgia used in negotiating between and among identities and conflicting cultural claims? Is nostalgia an impetus and a driving force to move the immigrant character/author forward in search of his/her identity or does it keep an individual trapped in the memory of the past? Another interesting point to explore: since nostalgia is universal, does the reader connect better or feel more empathy for characters/authors through sharing their nostalgia, be it for food, or the warmth of a parental home? In terms of specific literary works, my presentation focuses on “The Third and Final Continent,” and “Hell-Heaven” (both short stories) by Jhumpa Lahiri and “Our Papers”(non-fiction) by Julia Alvarez. While theories of nostalgia inform my analysis of these two contemporary authors, I also discuss and share strategies of teaching immigrant authors like Lahiri and Alvarez in a college classroom in the U.S.