Marta Koval Knihy

Exploring the themes of memory and forgetting, this monograph delves into how these concepts shape identity and influence the experiences of immigrants and exiles. It highlights the works of contemporary American authors of East-Central European descent, such as Askold Melnyczuk, Domnica Radulescu, and Aleksandar Hemon, examining their fictional portrayals of post-immigrant and exile life. Through this lens, the book offers insights into the complexities of cultural adjustment and personal narratives within these communities.

The book is a study of the most recent American fiction, published at the turn of the 21th century, which demonstrates a renewed interest in the matters of history. Using the concepts of memory and experience, the author points at the ways in which subjective history has been created in the new «novel about history», written by such authors as William Gass, Richard Powers, Marilynne Robinson, Nicholson Baker, Aleksandar Hemon, and Jeffrey Eugenides. Theoretically, the study has been inspired by the works of Aleida Assmann, Hayden White, Reinhart Koselleck, Frank Ankersmit, and Dominick LaCapra.