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 …
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Citation: Flajsarova, Pavlina. "Fruit of the Lemon". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 January 2021 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=26846, accessed 01 December 2024.]