SOURCE: Lane, Dr. Richard J. “An Analysis of the Literature of the U.S. Immigrant Experience.” In Contemporary Literary Criticism, vol. 162, edited by Tom Burns and Jeffrey W. Hunter. Farmington Hills, Mich.: The Gale Group, 2002.

In the following essay, Lane examines the history and diversity of literature written by authors who immigrated to the United States, focusing on the unique ethnic attributes and perspectives that the various immigrant groups have brought to the body of American literature.

Overview of the Literature of the U.s. Immigrant Experience

A basic question needs to be asked at the outset: why did so many people emigrate to the Unites States of America? One simple answer is that many people were driven from, or decided to leave, their countries of origin either for economic reasons (they lived in poverty or could see no future for themselves at home) or because of political...