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The missing literature of poverty

On the Powells.com website, author and litblogger Laila Lalami uses Hurricane Katrina as a springboard to discuss the way the U.S. has ignored the growing poverty in its midst in recent years. And she argues that this disconnect is also found in the country’s literary culture. “Poverty has receded from the list of popular themes of the American novel,” Lalami writes. “No longer do we have a John Steinbeck, a Richard Wright, a Theodore Dreiser, or a Zora Neale Hurston writing about the working poor.”

Instead, she argues, American fiction has focused on suburbs, university campuses, and Manhattan media types. “Meanwhile, the poor were stuck with silent or supporting roles. Something very tangible happened to American protagonists in the last ten years. Unlike a great many of their fellow countrymen, they stopped worrying about making rent.”

Among the exceptions, she notes, are writers like Edwidge Danticat, Junot Diaz, and Sherman Alexie. (Earlier works by Russell Banks and Carolyn Chute would also fit the bill.)

Related links:
Click here for Laila Lalami’s essay on Powells.com

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