Since the 1960s, academics have theorized that literature is on its way to becoming obsolete, or, at the very least, has lost part of its power as an influential medium of social and cultural critique. This work argues against that misconception and maintains that contemporary American literature is not only alive and well, but that it has grown in significant ways that reflect changes in American culture during the last twenty years. The author's use of the term hybrid is similar to that of Mikhail Bakhtin; for Bakhtin, language is by definition a hybrid form and literature, most...

This book explores the works of eight representative African American writers of the hip-hop generation, to assess their common themes and offer insignts into contemporary race relations in America as expressed and challenged in their works.

The first book-length examination of the critically acclaimed contemporary Native American author

The most populous Islamic country in the Middle East, Iran is rife with contradictions, in many ways caught between the culture and governments of the Western--to some, the imperialist or colonizing--world and the ideology of conservative fundamentalist Islam. This book explores the present-day writings of authors who explore these oppositional forces, often finding a middle course between the often brutal and demonizing rhetoric from both sides. To combat how the West has falsely generalized and stereotyped Iran, and how Iran has falsely generalized and stereotyped the West, Iranian and...