Readaptation Narratives in 'Sojourner Literature'

“Absolutely brilliant book! A must read.”
—Ruth E. Van Reken, Co-Author, Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds, and Co-Founder, Families in Global Transition
“This book carves out new territory in the landscape of transnational literature by naming and framing what has long gone unnamed: the emotional, cultural, and narrative turbulence of return. With the concept of sojourner literature and its subgenre of readaptation narratives, the author sharpens our understanding of re-entry and gives voice to a liminal experience often left in the shadows.”
—Arianna Dagnino, Author, Transcultural Writers and Novels in the Age of Global Mobility. Sessional Lecturer of Italian, The University of British Columbia, Canada
This Palgrave Pivot makes a case for ‘sojourner literature’, a new literary genre within transnational literature, parallel to ‘immigrant literature’, and its subgenre ‘readaptation narratives’. Sojourners are a privileged group of migrants who travel freely and by choice, and yet they struggle with the experience of returning home. Through contextualization, readaptation narratives open psychological concepts like grief, ambiguous loss, identity shifts, and coping styles, while the psychology deepens the reading of the narrative form and its exposition of in-betweenness.
The novels explored are A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers, Americanah, Dear Pakistan, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, and two Icelandic novels that have not been translated into English, Að heiman [Away from Home] and Mávahlátur [Seagulls Laughter]. The analysis reveals two new metaphors that help ground the meaning of dis-/re-orientation in the context of readaptation and suggests that the existing readaptation framework requires expansion to better deal with the complexity of the phenomenon.
Karítas Hrundar Pálsdóttir-is a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of East Anglia, UK. She is the first Icelander to hold a PhD in creative writing.-

Karítas Hrundar Pálsdóttir is Visiting Research Fellow at the University of East Anglia, UK. She was the first Icelander to complete a PhD in Creative Writing upon passing her viva from the University of East Anglia in November 2023. Her previous books include three flash fiction collections, Arstidir (2020), Dagatal (2022) and Vikuspa (2025). She has also published materials to support second-language acquisition for people studying Icelandic.