E-Book Overview
This critical study of Asian American literature discusses work by internationally successful writers such as Maxine Hong Kingston, Amy Tan, Bharati Mukherjee, Gish Jen, Chang-Rae Lee and Amitav Ghosh, and situates them in a range of literary-cultural contexts. The focus of the book is on twentieth-century writing, particularly from the 1970s onwards, but it also traces the historical development of Asian American literature and discusses important earlier writers. Four central themes in Asian American culture are covered: beginning Asian American literature; ambassadorial literature; culture wars; and heterogeneity, hybridity, multiplicity. Each chapter offers a broad discussion of writers, concepts and approaches with case studies of key texts. Particular emphasis is placed on the critical reception of these writers, as they contribute to major debates in and around Asian American Studies. Works by Asian American writers are considered in relation to transatlantic literature, postcolonial theory, feminism and postmodernism. Key features*The first readily available introductory guide to Asian American literature. *Discusses a representative range of Asian American literature, providing a sense of the diversity of the field and of its key themes and modes of writing.*Links close reading of key texts with critical and theoretical approaches to Asian American literature. *Encourages reflection on questions of literary value, canonicity and the scope and purpose of literary studies.
E-Book Content
Edinburgh Critical Guides to Literature Series Editors: Martin Halliwell and Andy Mousley This series provides accessible yet provocative introductions to a wide range of literatures. The volumes will initiate and deepen the reader’s understanding of key literary movements, periods and genres, and consider debates that inform the past, present and future of literary study. Resources such as glossaries of key terms and details of archives and internet sites are also provided, making each volume a comprehensive critical guide. Adams ASIAN AMERICAN LITERATURE Key Features • The first readily available introductory guide to Asian American literature with a Chronology and Glossary of key events and terms • Discusses a representative range of Asian American literature, providing a sense of the diversity of the field and of its key themes and modes of writing • Provides close readings of key texts in the form of case studies in their cultural historical and critical contexts • Encourages reflection on questions of literary value, canonicity and the scope and purpose of literary studies Bella Adams is a part-time lecturer in American Studies at Liverpool John Moores University and author of Amy Tan (2005). Bella Adams Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press 22 George Square Edinburgh EH8 9LF www.eup.ed.ac.uk Edinburgh Critical Guides This critical study of Asian American literature discusses work by internationally successful writers such as Maxine Hong Kingston, Chang-rae Lee, Bharati Mukherjee, Amy Tan and others in their historical, cultural and critical contexts. The focus of this book is on contemporary writing, from the 1970s onwards, but it also traces over a hundred years of Asian American literary production in prose, poetry, drama and criticism. The main body of the book comprises five periodized chapters that highlight important events in a nation-state that has historically rendered Asian Americans invisible. Of particular importance to the writers selected for case studies are questions of racial identity, cultural history and literary value with respect to dominant American ideologies. ASIAN AMERICAN LITERATURE Edinburgh Critical Guides Bella Adams ASIAN AMERICAN LITERATURE ISBN 978 0 7486 2272 6 Cover design: Michael Chat