Abstract:

Jimmy Santiago Baca’s recent novel American Orphan, published in 2021, is analyzed both as a life narrative and the latest addition to the long tradition of the American classics. The theoretical framework addresses the distinction between an autobiography and a life narrative (the latter being a broader term which includes various types of self-referential narratives according to Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson) and the issue of (non)-fictionality in this genre. Baca’s narrative is analyzed in relation to its treatment of the themes of silence, trauma, minority group experience, and acquiring one’s individual voice. Furthermore, Baca’s narrative owes its powerful expression to the American literary tradition as it draws upon some of the literary tropes established by earlier American texts. An attempt is made to establish a link between the American values of survival, individual achievement and optimism expressed in American literature and Baca’s life writing.

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