Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner

Corinne Fowler (The University of Leicester)

Ed. by Cristina Sandru, The Literary Encyclopedia
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Nicole Kennedy (University of Newcastle), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 2004

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

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Published in 2003 and set mainly in 1970s Kabul,

The Kite Runner

is a major international bestseller which has been translated into 47 languages. [At the time of writing, the novel has been bought by over 15,000,000 people (BBC ‘World Book Club’, May 2008).] The novel’s critical reception provides clues on the many factors, both political and literary, that underscore the novel’s commercial success. Careful attention to novel’s social and political contexts, too, is an essential pre-requisite for understanding its cultural nuances and subtle plot details, including the historically resonant cemetery and the symbolically loaded pomegranate tree.

The story opens in San Francisco, where the Afghan-born protagonist, Amir, is happily married yet consumed by guilt. We learn, in

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3540 words

Citation: Fowler, Corinne. "The Kite Runner". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 December 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23019, accessed 13 May 2025.]

Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner

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