OR past generations, the bedrock accounts of the immigrant experience in New York described the lives of newcomers from Eastern Europe and carried titles like "Call It Sleep,'' by Henry Roth (1934), "A Walker in the City," by Alfred Kazin (1951) and "World of Our Fathers,'' by Irving Howe (1976). In the last quarter century, however, the literary melting pot has been spiced with fresh voices from Korea, Cuba, Mexico, Russia and beyond, even as the dreams and struggles they chronicle echo those of their predecessors.

Here is a baker's dozen of new and recent classics.

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Translations of Beauty
By Mia Yun (2004)

This novel about immigrants' children laboring to please traditional parents while creating new identities in a strange world begins when a Korean family leaves its small village for greener pastures in Flushing, Queens. Though only planned as a stopover "on the way to the Real America," Queens becomes home, and the family's experiences make for a bittersweet tale about the meaning of race, kinship and success.