Contemporary Arab American Women Writers: Hyphenated Identities ...

In particular, attention has focused on the literatures of the most visible (because of physical markers and of numbers and/or political voice) racially marked hybridized cultures within the United States. Indeed, specialized anthologies, university courses, and scholarly critical work in the areas of African American literature, Asian American literature, Latino American literature, and Native American literature have become commonplace at the dawn of the twentyfirst century. Less common but beginning to burgeon is literary attention to the previously overlooked writings by authors of other multiracial and multicultural origins. The present volume participates in this endeavor, offering fresh insight into the literary production of Arab American writers.

Another profound influence on contemporary American literature and literary studies can be traced to the 1970s women’s movement, which led to an increase in the publication rate of women writers and critical attention to writing by women as well as to the development of feminist critical methodologies across the academic disciplines, including that of literary studies. As with the case of nonwhite and mixedrace authors, women writers have become increasingly represented in anthologies and course syllabi that focus on contemporary American literature as well as the recipients of literary prizes and the focus of critical publications. Moreover, since the 1980s, much critical attention has been devoted to the intersections between race, ethnicity, and gender and in the notion of hybrid identity and its consequences (both positive and negative).

As a result, contemporary American literature by racially marked and culturally hybrid women writers speaks to late twentieth and early twentyfirst century America in a particularly relevant way and has enjoyed popular and critical success. Indeed, some of these texts are hitting bestseller status, being adapted into films, and receiving top literary prizes. For example, Amy Tan’s 1988 The Joy Luck Club sold over two million copies and was made into a movie; Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, and Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreters of Maladies won the coveted Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1983, 1988, and 2000, respectively, with the first two adapted into major motion pictures with star power; and Morrison went on to win the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature.