First of two parts
A work of fiction can be a catalyst to thought, illuminating a real situation more clearly and intensely than any other document.
"Snow in Autumn," a 1931 novella by French author Irene Nemirovsky — originally titled "Les mouches d'automne" — is one such work of fiction, beautifully encapsulating as it does the migrant experience for the first (displaced) generation and the second (assimilated) one.