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Beyond the Text and the Usual Suspects
ALTHOUGH THE PEOPLE in Arab-American literature may be settled, and even well rooted, in the United States, they constantly make reference to personal, cultural, historical, and political realities in their families' countries of origin. Contrary to many conventional expectations, the authors present neither a simpleminded nostalgia tor the Old Ways nor an unambiguous relief at having escaped to the Enlightened West. Instead, they offer a complex, sometimes excruciating, expression of how the "old" and "new" worlds are related.
This has important results. First, "the West" is no longer assumed to be the center and the former colonies and protectorates the periphery, second-and just as important-authors are often compelled to show, in intimate terms, the human cost of policies that otherwise might only be understood in abstract terms or through the clichéd images of approved news footage. Ultimately, the "de-centered" worldview presents a new center: the value of human life that authors affirm through their compassionate attention to particular people and events, presented with the understanding that what happens "there" is inextricably tied to what happens "here." This value (which is certainly not unique to Arab-American writers) stands in opposition to those whose actions express a contempt for life equal to their capacity to destroy it.
Extraliterary contexts too complex to explore here must at least be- noted: even as violent forces define themselves by a "clash of civilizations," grassroots movements for human rights and self-determination are crossing borders in unprecedented ways, expressing common aspirations that cannot be attributed exclusively to the "West" or "East," "North" or "South." To recognize such commonalities is not to gloss over differences in cultures, beliefs, or ideologies. In fact, grassroots movements often ground their efforts in traditions of community that grow out of their particular place on earth and assert themselves in the face of a globalized market that frequently erodes local cultures even as it exacerbates economic disparities. The insights literature offers into these unprecedented times can be easily overlooked by those who read and write in the old "us/them" terms.
Beyond What the Market and Aesthetics Will Bear
THE PERVASIVE MISREPRESENTATION of the Arab world in Western popular culture has been well documented. What can literary fiction offer instead? Does the...