E-Book Overview
Guiyou Huang traces the history of Asian American literature from the end of World War II to the beginning of the twenty-first century. Huang covers six genres: anthology, autobiography/memoir, drama, fiction, poetry, and short fiction; reviews major historical developments and social movements; explains key literary terms; and offers a narrative, A-to-Z guide of major Asian American writers and their works, plus their critical reception.This guide covers Canadian and U.S. authors with cultural and ethnic origins in East Asia, South Asia, and the Pacific Islands. It begins with a discussion of works written shortly after World War II that explore the personal and political impact of the conflict, such as John Okada's No-No Boy and Hisaye Yamamoto's short fiction. Huang then focuses on the 1980s, when Asian American literature blossomed into a diverse, heterogeneous field characterized by a variety of themes, genres, and styles, and writers with multiple ethnic and cultural backgrounds. He considers the work of novelists Amy Tan and Maxine Hong Kingston, the poets Ai and Agha Shahid Ali, and more than 100 additional authors, including Frank Chin, David Henry Hwang, Jessica Hagedorn, Nora Okja Keller, Bharati Mukherjee, Gish Jen, Chang-rae Lee, Jhumpa Lahiri, Chitra Divakaruni, and Theresa Hak Kyung Cha.Huang points the reader toward further study for individual authors, and his selected bibliography suggests works of a more general nature, including literary criticism and histories, reference works, and collections of essays. Comprehensive though concise, clearly written but richly detailed, The Columbia Guide to Asian American Literature Since 1945 is an invaluable resource. (8/2/2007)
E-Book Content
The Columbia Guide to Asian American Literature Since 1945
Columbia Guides to Literature Since 1945
The Columbia Guides to Literature Since 1945 The Columbia Guide to the Literatures of Eastern Europe Since 1945, ed. Harold B. Segel The Columbia Guide to American Indian Literatures Since 1945, ed. Eric Cheyfitz The Columbia Guide to Contemporary African American Fiction, Darryl Dickson-Carr
The Columbia Guide to Asian American Literature Since 1945
Guiyou Huang
Columbia University Press New York
Columbia University Press Publishers Since 1893 New York Chichester, West Sussex Copyright © 2006 Columbia University Press All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The Columbia guide to Asian American literature since 1945 / Guiyou Huang. p. cm. — (Columbia guides to literature since 1945) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–231–12620–4 (cloth) 1. American fiction—Asian American authors—History and criticism. 2. Asian Americans—Intellectual life. 3. Asian Americans in literature. I. Huang, Guiyou, 1961– II. Series. PS153.A84C65 2006 813’.5409895—dc22
2005051996
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper. Printed in the United States of America c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents Acknowledgments / vii
Part I Narrative Overview / 1
Part II A–Z Entries / 31 1. Anthologies / 33 2. Autobiographies/Memoirs / 59 3. Drama / 83 4. Fiction / 113 5. Poetry / 173 6. Short Fiction / 213
Part III Literary Criticism: A Selected Bibliography / 237
Part IV Periodicals / 245 Index / 249
Acknowledgments I would like to thank the following individuals who helped make this book possible. James Raimes and James Warren, both formerly of Columbia University Press, guided the progress of the book in its earlier stages, and Juree Sondker, associate editor at CUP, offered timely help in the final stages of its preparation. I also wish to thank the two anonymous reviewers of the book in its manuscript form, from whose reviews I benefited considerably. Leslie Kri