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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Affects and Communities in Contemporary American Ethnic Novels

Affects and Communities in Contemporary American Ethnic Novels

Xiaoling, Wang

Hardcover

Series: China Perspectives

Literary Criticism

PREORDER - Expected ship date September 7, 2026

ISBN10: 1041332181
ISBN13: 9781041332183
Publisher: Routledge
Published: Sep 7 2026
Pages: 252
Weight: 1.20
Height: 0.63 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English

This book examines contemporary American ethnic novels through the lens of affect studies, focusing on the political and cultural implications of negative affects in literary representation.

Analysing works by Native American, African American, Jewish American, Latinx, and Asian American writers since the Civil Rights era, it explores how affects such as anxiety, irritation, and alienation illuminate the predicaments of marginalised communities, including racial inequality, cultural erasure, and institutional discrimination. Drawing on affect theory, the book develops a nuanced approach to understanding the relationship between affect, politics, and literature. Through close readings of representative texts, it demonstrates that affects function not merely as personal feelings but as intuitive responses to structural contradictions and as expressions of a desire for emotional resonance and solidarity. Combining interdisciplinary theory with comparative literary analysis, the study argues that affective representation in ethnic novels helps construct affective communities grounded in shared experiences of marginalisation and resistance. In doing so, it highlights literature's potential to deepen empathy, challenge dominant narratives, and contribute to broader conversations about social justice in a multicultural society.

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