Central and Eastern Europeans in North American Literature and Culture

Central and Eastern Europeans in North American Literature and Culture: Under Western Eyes examines how Central and Eastern Europe and its peoples have been imagined, represented, and reinterpreted in North American literature and culture.

Bringing together interdisciplinary scholars from several countries, the volume explores fiction, non-fiction, poetry, children’s and young adult literature, comics, film, television, the press, the internet, and video games. Its chapters address migration, diaspora, memory, identity, Jewishness, religion, war, gender, ethnicity, Indigenous relations, and stereotypes, placing literary and cultural representations within broader historical and political contexts. The collection also features original vignettes by bestselling and award-winning American and Canadian authors Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, Eva Stachniak, Amanda McCrina, Erin Litteken, Marina Scott, Norman Ravvin, and Gabriele Goldstone, along with a foreword by Cecilia Woloch and an afterword by Steven Seegel containing unpublished poetry. Combining critical scholarship with creative voices, the book offers a wide-ranging account of the presence, influence, and representation of Central and Eastern Europe in North American cultural life.