Andrea Levy, Fruit of the Lemon

Pavlina Flajsarova (Palacky University Olomouc)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

Similarly to her previous novels,

Every Light in the House Burnin’

and

Never Far From Nowhere

,

Fruit of the Lemon

(1999), Andrea Levy’s third novel, has at its centre the theme of identity. W.E.B. Du Bois, in his

The Souls of Black Folk

(1903), and Paul Gilroy, in

The Black Atlantic

(1993), have called the dilemma of reconciling two identities double consciousness. In the essay “This Is My England” (

Guardian

, 2000), Levy herself voices her attitude to double consciousness and identity: “Identity! Sometimes it makes my head hurt – sometimes my heart. So what am I? Where do I fit into Britain?” She explores this topic in the novel through the eyes of the second generation of post-war Caribbean immigrants in the United Kingdom. The state of being split between two cultures is…

2658 words

Citation: Flajsarova, Pavlina. "Fruit of the Lemon". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 January 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=26846, accessed 28 March 2024.]

26846 Fruit of the Lemon 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.