I'm looking for books about people from colonized cultures living in "the West" (whatever that means, but you know what I mean) feeling some degree of alienation, sadness, displacement, etc…
It's hard to describe, but I'm thinking of books like this:
- Most V.S. Naipaul, especially "A House for Mr. Biswas" and "The Mimic Men"
- Abdulrazak Gurnah's novels
- Jhumpa Lahiri's earlier stuff, especially "The Namesake" and "The Interpreter of Maladies"
- Sam Selvon, especially "The Lonely Londoners"
- Zadie Smith, "White Teeth"
- Orhan Pamuk, "Snow"
- R.F. Kuang's "Babel"
There's a lot of representation of middle aged men in the mid-20th century in that list, so I'd love to find books outside that context too.
by fosterbanana
1 Comment
The Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Not exactly colonized, but Asian perspectives that are similar to what you’re looking for:
Allen Choice trilogy by Leonard Chang
Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
The All-American by Joe Milan