Reading Mennonite Writing: A Study in Minor Transnationalism

Reading Mennonite Writing challenges the traditional view of Mennonite literature as an expression of community identity by positioning it as "a mode of circulation and reading" in North America. Robert Zacharias employs various methodological experiments to explore the field's unique configuration of faith-based intercultural difference, including cross-sectional readings, archival readings, Canadian rewritings, Mennonite theology as fantasy, and an examination of ethnicity as a "thing." The study offers a valuable case study in the shifting position of minor literatures in the transnational era and appeals to scholars in Mennonite literature and transnational literary studies.

Format: Hardback
Length: 266 pages
Publication date: 17 May 2022
Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press

Mennonite literature has long been seen as a way to express community identity, but scholars in the field have called for a reevaluation of its past and a reimagining of its future. Robert Zacharias' book, Reading Mennonite Writing, takes up this challenge by positioning Mennonite literature in North America as a mode of circulation and reading rather than a mere expression of a distinct community. To test this reframing, Zacharias employs a series of methodological experiments that explore new avenues for critical engagement with Mennonite literature's unique combination of faith-based intercultural difference. These experiments include cross-sectional readings in nonnarrative literary history, archival readings of transatlantic life writing, Canadian rewritings of Mexican films' deployment of Mennonite theology as fantasy, an examination of the fetishistic structure of ethnicity as a "thing" that has enabled Mennonite identity to function in a post-identity age, and a tentative reinvestment in ideals of Mennonite community through the surprising routes of queerness and speculative fiction. By reading Mennonite writing in North America as a case study in the shifting position of minor literatures in the wake of the transnational turn, Zacharias offers a theoretically sophisticated exploration of transnationalism that will appeal to specialists in Mennonite literature as well as scholars working in the broader field of transnational literary studies.

Weight: 550g
Dimension: 159 x 237 x 25 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780271092744