Paper short abstract:

Home in immigrants' literature refers both to the beloved left homeland as well as to the new foreign place of work and residence. The paper will focus on the various and contradictory notions of utopian homes in Greek-American literature published at the beginning of the 20th century in the US.

Paper long abstract:

Home has multifaceted representations in immigrants' literature. Home refers both to the beloved homeland of birth as well as to the new foreign place of work and residence. The perception of home in immigrant's literature shows the complicated and ambivalent relationship between immigrants and their two home(land)s. The paper will focus on various and contradictory notions of home in Greek-American literature published at the beginning of the 20th century in the United States. The array of Greek-American book production is extensive: "high" and "low" editions; books for adults as well as for children; books with a religious, social, humorous, or functional character; bilingual books or books printed in only one language, and so on. A significant number of serials and periodicals are also present in almost every community. All these publications were crucial to the cultural education and self-awareness of Greek immigrants. These heterogeneous literary genres offer various types of homes: the family circle, the village in the old country, the small community of compatriots in the new land, the new as well as the old nation, etc. The paper will question the power behind those ambivalent notions: why the publishers and authors, who targeted to educate and enlighten their fellow immigrants about their new home, offered mixed visions? Is the old homeland intentionally associated with a utopian image whereas the new homeland is presented in a more realistic but emotionally negative way?