Finding Refuge in Literature

Three recent books raise awareness of African refugees in America.

By Natalie Ondiak, Center for American Progress
Monday, June 4, 2007

Dave Eggers’ What is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng was published first, in October 2006, and received critical acclaim. The other two books are by first-time authors. Dinaw Mengestu was born in Ethiopia and moved to the United States when he was two years old. A graduate of Georgetown University and Columbia University’s master of fine arts program in fiction, his novel is The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears. Finally, Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier is a memoir describing his experience in Sierra Leone as a child soldier who eventually moved to the United States to complete his final two years of high school in New York City. He graduated from Oberlin College in 2007.

Is the refugee experience the next ‘big thing’ in publishing? Does the success of these books indicate the public at large truly cares about genocide, war, and poverty in Africa?

The most unusual book stylistically is What is the What. By adopting the first-person voice of Achak Deng, Eggers tells the story of this real-life Lost Boy of Sudan. The Lost Boys of Sudan are arguably the most well-known group of refugees in the United States. This is in no small part due to a 2001 New York Times Magazine article called “The Long, Long, Long Road to Fargo” which described the gut-wrenching ordeal the majority of these boys faced in fleeing Sudan: seeing their families killed, walking across an arid landscape, and facing attacks by lions and various militarized groups in Sudan. Their story in a way became emblematic of the civil war in Sudan between the North and the South and the continuing genocide in Darfur.

It’s difficult to determine which parts of Eggers’ novelized memoir are real, and which are imagined—Deng’s voice is heard only through Eggers’ narration. Eggers makes an unusual choice: he tells the story of Deng’s ordeal in Sudan by way of flashback from a time when Deng is robbed at gunpoint in his Atlanta apartment. The cliché of redemption in America for the brave refugee is shattered immediately.

Eggers has undoubtedly helped to publicize the genocide. But let’s face it: Eggers, author of the phenomenally successful experimental memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, is a celebrity in the publishing world. Some readers will buy What is the What book purely because his name is on the cover. This is not to discount Eggers; he is using his fame to shed light upon unimaginable suffering and tell the story of innocent people whose lives are torn apart by conflict. Sound familiar? Consider that Angelina Jolie, as spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the world’s largest and most important refugee protection organization, may have managed to make global refugee crises sexy.

Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone is the most intensely personal of recent refugee lit, by the mere fact that it is a traditional memoir. His story is horrifying. Yes, children can be killers too, and Beah’s book recounts the experience of being a child soldier in Sierra Leone—from being drugged and taught to kill, to rehabilitation, to resettlement in the United States. Interestingly, this book has catapulted its way onto the bestseller list and received heaps of attention. Why? The answer may have to do with the unlikely way it is marketed—at Starbucks counters. Who wants to read about genocide over a non-fat, no whip, venti caramel macchiato? Guilty “latte liberals,” perhaps? This book does not make you feel warm and fuzzy—but that’s the point.

A third example of the genre is a short novel called The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears by Mengestu. The novel focuses around an Ethiopian refugee who settles into a predominantly African-American neighborhood in Washington, D.C., on the verge of gentrification. This book was less hyped than the others—it tells of an episode in Ethiopian history that has passed (the aftermath of the coup in 1974 that overthrew Haile Selassie) and is a work of pure fiction. Mengetsu benefited from publicity heaped upon the Eggers and Beah works, but was published to less fanfare. Nevertheless, the power and beauty of this story is affecting and wonderfully subtle.

In March at Politics & Prose bookstore in Northwest Washington, D.C., Beah spoke about A Long Way Gone. I asked him why he thought so many books about the African refugee experience had suddenly appeared on the market. Beah said he couldn’t speak for other authors, but that he believed that the “groundwork” for refugee lit had been laid by films such as Leonardo Dicaprio’s Blood Diamond, which recounts the story of Sierra Leone and was a tremendous critical success. Beah also mentioned people are interested in the pain of their fellow human beings, and that his book and the others give readers a glimpse into present day horror on a continent that receives too little attention. But most basically, Beah said that the recent books by and about refugees were successful because they are well written and feature compelling stories.

The stories of immigrants have helped to shape the American narrative, and these three books introduce us to some of the United States’ most recent newcomers in search of new lives. In concrete terms, the success of these books is revealing: What is the What was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle and A Long Way Gone has spent more than 15 weeks on non-fiction bestseller lists. Even if some of the commercial success of these books is a result of a trend in the publishing market, the value of these books lies in their power to make far-away political events real through the details of individual lives.

Natalie Ondiak is the Administrative Assistant to the Executive Office at the Center for American Progress. She received a BA from Wellesley College and recently completed her Master’s Degree at the University of Oxford in Forced Migration. She finds the global movement of people fascinating and is particularly interested in conflict-induced displacement.

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Comments

1. For a non-fiction, detailed account of the story of the Lost Boys of Sudan you can read “The Journey of the Lost Boys” by Joan Hecht. It chronicles the journey of the Lost Boys beginning with them as children in their villages in Southern Sudan and ending with their arrivals as young men to the United States. It is narrated in the voice of one of their American mentors who also established a 501-c-3 foundation to assist with their medical and educational needs called Alliance for the Lost Boys of Sudan www.allianceforthelostboys.com. The book includes the history of the war between the north and south of Sudan in an extremely easy to read format. It is used in colleges and high schools throughout the US.

   — Joan Hecht - Jun 11, 12:42 PM - #