9 Contemporary Literature, 1970 to Present
Exploration of contemporary Jewish American literature within the context of
current debates about multicultural literature; provides a historical overview of
Jewish American fiction.
Helena Grice, Candida Hepworth, Maria Lauret, and Martin Padget, Beginning
Ethnic American Literature (Manchester, England & New York: Manchester
University Press, 2001).
Examines the work of African Americans, Asian Americans, Chicanos/as, and
Native Americans within cultural, historical, and literary contexts; divided into
four sections, each focused on a literary tradition offering a brief overview, a dis-
cussion of critical issues, and essays on individual novels.
Guiyou Huang, Columbia Guide to Asian-American Literature since 1945 (New
York: Columbia University Press, 2006).
Traces the literature of Asian America from the end of World War II to the
beginning of the twenty-first century within historical contexts. In addi-
tion to fiction, poetry, and drama, the work discusses major anthologies and
memoir/autobiography.
Huang, ed., Asian American Autobiographers: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Source-
book (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2001).
Alphabetically arranged entries that provide biographical, critical, and biblio-
graphical information on Asian American memoirists and autobiographers.
Huang, ed., Asian-American Poets: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook (West-
port, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002).
Entries on forty-eight Asian American poets, each entry consisting of a short
biography, discussion of major themes, a summary of critical reception, and criti-
cal sources.
Huang, ed., The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Asian American Literature, 3 volumes
(Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2008).
Comprehensive resource featuring entries on Asian American writers, individual
works, topics, events, and terms.
Nicholás Kanellos, Hispanic Literature of the United States: A Comprehensive Refer-
ence (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2003).
Essential resource on the history of U.S. Hispanic literature with useful discussion
of major trends, movements, and themes. The “Who’s Who of Hispanic Authors of
the United States” will help students quickly identify important literary figures.
Jeff Karem, The Romance of Authenticity (Charlottesville: University of Virginia
Press, 2004).
Discusses the problems of using authenticity when assessing the value of ethnic
American literature for both writers and literary critics. Examples are given from
works by African American, Latino, and Native American literatures.
A. Robert Lee, Multicultural American Literature: Comparative Black, Native,
Latino/a and Asian American Fictions ( Jackson: University Press of Missis-
sippi, 2003).