Asian American Literary Studies

by Huang, Guiyou

• ISBN13: 9780748620135
• ISBN10: 0748620133
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-07-18
• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Summary

This volume presents global perspectives on Asian American literature by accomplished scholars from Germany, Japan, Singapore, Spain, and the US. It covers a diverse range of interdisciplinary topics in contemporary Asian American Studies across a wide spectrum of ethnic groups: Burmese, Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, and Vietnamese.Section I probes themes such as the vital role that war plays in the production of Asian American literary works, and the agency of the self in the life writings of Asian American autobiographers. Section II examines the confines of binary oppositions of gender, as well as issues of pan-ethnicity and gender relations. Section III explores the role that performance, film, and language play in the definition of self-identity and in ethnic empowerment. Five intrinsically connected themes run through all sections: gender roles; stereotyping; identity politics; intersections of literature, history, family, and the self; and the impact of wars on Asian American culture and literature. The chapters illuminate each other by discussing ideas and issues that are the enlargements of other, related themes and topics.Key Features* Global perspectives on the literary texts* Interdisciplinary approach to the subject* Contributors' expertise* Up-to-date coverage

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Series Editor's Foreword	viii
Introduction: Global and Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Asian American Literary Studies	1	(14)
Guiyou Huang
Section I: Perspectives on Literature and History
Chapter 1 Asian American Literary History: War, Memory, and Representation	15	(26)
Gayle K. Sato
Chapter 2 The Self in the Text versus the Self as Text: Asian American Autobiographical Strategies	41	(23)
Rocio G. Davis
Chapter 3 Asian Americans Imagining Burma: Chang-rae Lee's A Gesture Lift and Wendy Law-Yone's Irrawaddy Tango	64	(15)
Cheng Lok Chua
Section II: Perspectives on Gender Roles and Representation
Chapter 4 Globalization, Masculinity, and the Changing Stakes of Hollywood Cinema for Asian American Studies	79	(30)
Karen Fang
Chapter 5 Gender Negotiations and the Asian American Literary Imagination	109	(23)
Wenxin Li
Chapter 6 Long a Mystery and Forever a Memory: God vs. Goddess in the Ethnic Novel	132	(20)
Guiyou Huang
Chapter 7 Realigning and Reassigning Cultural Values: Occidentalist Stereotyping and Representations of the Multiethnic Family in Asian American Women Writers	152	(27)
Tamara Silvia Wagner
Section III: Perspectives on Language and Culture
Chapter 8 "I Love My India": Indian American Students Performing Identity and Creating Culture on Stage	179	(27)
Vincent H. Melomo
Chapter 9 Speaking Outside of the Standard: Local Literature of Hawai'i	206	(19)
Amy N Nishimura
Chapter 10 Staging Heterogeneity: Contemporary Asian American Drama	225	(21)
Christiane Schlote
Notes on the Editor and Contributors	246	(2)
Index	248