TY - JOUR
T1 - Listening to the refugee
T2 - Valeria Luiselli's sentimental activism
AU - James, David
N1 - Not yet published as of 08/06/2021.
PY - 2021/6/15
Y1 - 2021/6/15
N2 - Literary sympathy and transnational solidarity are still uncomfortable bedfellows in critical thought about the politics of fiction. This essay reconsiders their relation in the context of writing about refugee crises by examining Valeria Luiselli’s reflexive, self-scrutinizing adoption of the sentimental mode. Her novel Lost Children’s Archive both solicits and repurposes sentimental engagement to stage a deeply self-conscious examination of the politics of compassion. Furthermore, it invites readers who are vigilant toward sympathetic involvement to acknowledge how self-gratifying it can be to turn the rejection of such involvement into an ethical virtue.
AB - Literary sympathy and transnational solidarity are still uncomfortable bedfellows in critical thought about the politics of fiction. This essay reconsiders their relation in the context of writing about refugee crises by examining Valeria Luiselli’s reflexive, self-scrutinizing adoption of the sentimental mode. Her novel Lost Children’s Archive both solicits and repurposes sentimental engagement to stage a deeply self-conscious examination of the politics of compassion. Furthermore, it invites readers who are vigilant toward sympathetic involvement to acknowledge how self-gratifying it can be to turn the rejection of such involvement into an ethical virtue.
UR - https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/125
UR - https://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/mfs-modern-fiction-studies
U2 - 10.1353/mfs.2021.0017
DO - 10.1353/mfs.2021.0017
M3 - Article
SN - 0026-7724
VL - 67
SP - 390
EP - 417
JO - MFS - Modern Fiction Studies
JF - MFS - Modern Fiction Studies
IS - 2
ER -