How has multiculturalism influenced today's American literature?

Multiculturalism -- the idea that any broad culture, such
as America's, is made up of many different contributing (and sometimes conflicting)
cultures -- has had an enormous impact on recent American literature. At one time,
canonical American literature was mainly written by white males. Eventually white women
writers became accepted into the canon (that is, the accepted list of "major" writers
and writings). African Americans were the next major group whose writings began to be
considered canonical. In recent decades, however, the number of different groups whose
writers and writings are seriously studied has expanded enormously. Such groups now
include homosexual and lesbian writers; Native American writers; Asian American Writers;
Hispanic writers; and many more.

A quick glance at the
table of contents of a major collection of recent American writing -- the
Heath Anthology of American Literature (volume 2) -- reveals the
following list of names:

• Hisaye
  Yamamoto


• Pedro
  Pietri


• Rudolfo A.
  Anaya


• Amiri Baraka


• Sonia
  Sanchez


• Lucille
  Clifton


• Ernest J.
  Gaines


• Etheridge
  Knight


• Alice Walker


• Toni
  Cade Bambara


• Victor Hernandes
  Cruz


• Garrett Kaoru
  Hongo


• David Henry
  Hwang


• Rolando
  Hinojosa-Smith


• Maxine Hong
  Kingston


• Amy Tan


• Gish
  Jen


• Janice
  Mirikitani

This list could
very easily be extended, but by now the point is clear: people of a
wide range of cultural backgrounds are now having a major influence on American
literature.

Often multiculturalism is an explicit topic of
recent writings. For example, the Heath Anthology includes a poem
by Lorna Dee Cervantes with the following title:

readability="8">

"Poem for the Young White Man Who Asked Me How I,
an Intelligent, Well-Read Person Could Believe in the War Between Races"
[sic]

Similarly, a poem by
Aurora Levins Morales, included in the same anthology, is titled "Child of the Americas"
(not America but "the Americas," referring to islands in the
Carribean). Another work by the same author is titled "Puertoricaness." In both theme
and often in style, then, much recent American literature reflects the influence of a
multiplicity of cultures.