The Migrant Canon in Twenty-First-Century France

209 Pages·2018·3.043 MB·English

by  Oana Sabo

the migr ant c anon in
twenty-f irs t-c entury france

T he Migrant Canon in
Twenty-F irst-C entury
France |
O A N A S A B O
UNIVERSITY OF NEB RASKA PRE SS | LIN COLN AND L ONDON
© 2018 by the Board of Regents of
the University of Nebraska
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Publication of this volume was assisted by
the Virginia Faulkner Fund, established in
memory of Virginia Faulkner, editor in chief
of the University of Nebraska Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Sabo, Oana, author.
Title: The migrant canon in twenty-
fi rst- century France / Oana Sabo.
Description: Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press,
2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifi ers: LCCN 2017042872
ISBN 9781496204943 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN 9781496205605 (epub)
ISBN 9781496205612 (mobi)
ISBN 9781496205629 (pdf)
Subjects: LCSH: French literature— 21st century—
History and criticism. | Emigration and immigration
in literature. | Literature and globalization—F rance.
| Globalization in literature. | Multiculturalism in
literature. | Migrations of nations in literature.
Classifi cation: LCC PQ317 .S23 2018
DDC 840.9/0092— dc23
LC record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/2017042872
Set in Lyon by E. Cuddy.
Designed by N. Putens.
For my mother
and in memory of my father

c ontents
Acknowledgments
ix
introduction
The French Literary Field in the New Millennium
1
1. production
Publishing Houses and Their Marketing Practices
33
2. reception
Online Readers in the Global Literary Marketplace
65
3. consecration
The Prix littéraire de la Porte Dorée and Its
Migrant Archive
97
4. canonization
Dany Laferrière at the Académie française
127
conclusion
French Migrant Literature in a Global Context
161
Notes
167
References
187
Index
195
a cknowledgments
I am extremely grateful for all the support I have received over the years
in completing this project. My fi rst thanks go to Roberto Ignacio Díaz
for sowing the seeds of The Migrant Canon and providing much-n eeded
guidance from beginning to end. I am deeply indebted to Natania Meeker,
whose rigorous feedback has inspired me to be a better writer. I also thank
Karen Pinkus for her incisive questions and comments on earlier drafts.
I am grateful to Viet Thanh Nguyen for steering me toward questions of
value, which have become central concerns in the book. I would like to
thank Rebecca Walkowitz for her generous feedback at a crucial stage. My
gratitude also goes to Warren Motte for his support of this project and to
Charles Forsdick for stimulating conversations. I give my thanks to Alicia
Christensen at the University of Nebraska Press for her enthusiastic support
of this project and her always helpful editorial work. I also thank the anon-
ymous readers who provided very useful commentary on my manuscript.
At Tulane University I was fortunate to receive generous grants from
the School of Liberal Arts and the Newcomb College Institute to conduct
research at the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Musée national de
l’histoire de l’immigration in Paris, as well as the Bibliothèque et Archives
nationales du Québec in Montréal in 2013. I am grateful to Carole Haber
and Sally Kenney for their support. I also thank the School of Liberal Arts
and the Offi ce of the Provost for a Book Subvention Grant and for travel
grants that allowed me to present my work at the 2015 MLA conference in
Canada and the 2016 MLA International Symposium in Germany. Tulane
University granted me a junior leave that allowed me to complete this book.
(cid:76)x