American Misfit: In Search of Reality interweaves personal experience with key historical events from the past half-century, showing how they shape individual consciousness. Grounded in Paul Ricoeur’s theory of narrative—which sees storytelling as essential to understanding our world—Matthew Motyka recounts his multicultural journey. Raised in communist Poland, he spent his twenties in France before moving to the United States. Though he thrives as an immigrant, he confronts a lingering question: Why does America, generous to outsiders, resist being fully loved?

In search of answers, Motyka looks to European intellectuals such as Simone Weil, Leszek Kołakowski, Tzvetan Todorov, and Alain Finkielkraut, whose reflections on uprootedness, immigration, and alienation shed light on his own experience. This juxtaposition of personal story and historical context reveals the profound influence of global events on individual identity—and the difficulty of ever fully belonging to one’s adopted home.

Matthew J. Motyka is Associate Professor of Romance Languages at the University of San Francisco. He holds a Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literatures from the University of California at Berkeley, an MA in Philosophy of Religion from Heythrop College, University of London, and a Master of Divinity from the University of Santa Clara. His previous book, One Word but Many Tongues (Rowman & Littlefield), explores issues of multiculturalism, identity, and spirituality. His current intellectual interests examine the possibility of blending or transferring between different linguistic, cultural, and political realities.

New Paperback: American Misfit