--- title: "4 Saidiya V. Hartman Quotes - Famous Literary theorist" description: "American historian, writer and academic... | Saidiya Hartman is an American academic and writer focusing on African-American studies. She is currently a..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7e4/saidiya-v-hartman-65405_end-of-the-world_every-generation-confronts-the-task-of-c_301456.jpg" --- # Saidiya V. Hartman (1949) Literary Theorist **4** quotes in **9** categories Rate this collection: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet Saidiya V. Hartman is a literary theorist. ## Quick Facts About Saidiya V. Hartman Born November 30, 1949 Profession Literary Theorist ## About Saidiya V. Hartman American historian, writer and academic... \| Saidiya Hartman is an American academic and writer focusing on African-American studies. She is currently a professor at Columbia University in their English department. Her work focuses on African-American literature, cultural history, photography and ethics, and the intersections of law and litera ## Quotes by Saidiya V. Hartman > [“Every generation confronts the task of choosing its past. Inheritances are chosen as much as they are passed on. The past depends…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saidiya-v-hartman/every-generation-confronts-the-task-of-choosing-its-past-inheritances/) [Saidiya V. Hartman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saidiya-v-hartman/) [Choosing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/choosing/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7e4/saidiya-v-hartman-65405_end-of-the-world_every-generation-confronts-the-task-of-c_301456.jpg) > [“If I had hoped to skirt the sense of being a stranger in the world by coming to Ghana, then disappointment awaited…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saidiya-v-hartman/if-i-had-hoped-to-skirt-the-sense-of-being-a-stranger-in-the-world-by/) [Saidiya V. Hartman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saidiya-v-hartman/) [Atlantic ocean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/atlantic-ocean/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/da0/saidiya-v-hartman-65405_atlantic-ocean_if-i-had-hoped-to-skirt-the-sense-of-bei_327233.jpg) > [“Myth is the threshold of history.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saidiya-v-hartman/myth-is-the-threshold-of-history/) [Saidiya V. Hartman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saidiya-v-hartman/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2f9/saidiya-v-hartman-65405_history_myth-is-the-threshold-of-history-491849_491849.jpg) > [“The domain of the stranger is always an elusive elsewhere .”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saidiya-v-hartman/the-domain-of-the-stranger-is-always-an-elusive-elsewhere/) [Saidiya V. Hartman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saidiya-v-hartman/) [Domain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/domain/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9fa/saidiya-v-hartman-65405_quote_the-domain-of-the-stranger-is-always-an_966096.jpg) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saidiya-v-hartman/#itemlist", "name": "Saidiya V. Hartman Quotes", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Every generation confronts the task of choosing its past. Inheritances are chosen as much as they are passed on. The past depends less on 'what happened then' than on the desires and discontents of the present. Strivings and failures shape the stories we tell. What we recall has as much to do with the terrible things we hope to avoid as with the good life for which we yearn. But when does one decide to stop looking to the past and instead conceive of a new order? When is it time to dream of another country or to embrace other strangers as allies or to make an opening, an overture, where there is none? When is it clear that the old life is over, a new one has begun, and there is no looking back? From the holding cell was it possible to see beyond the end of the world and to imagine living and breathing again?”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Saidiya V. 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