Bold Words

by Srikanth, Rajini; Iwanaga, Esther Yae

• ISBN13: 9780813529660
• ISBN10: 0813529662
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-08-01
• Publisher: Rutgers Univ Pr

Summary

A century of Asian American writing has generated a forceful cascade of "bold words." This anthology covers writings by Asian Americans in all genres, from the early twentieth century to the present. Some sixty authors of Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, South Asian, and Southeast Asian American origin are represented, with an equal split between male and female writers. The collection is divided into four sections-memoir, fiction, poetry, and drama-prefaced by an introductory essay from a well-known practitioner of that genre: Meena Alexander on memoir, Gary Pak on fiction, Eileen Tabios on poetry, and Roberta Uno on drama. The selections depict the complex realities and wide range of experiences of Asians in the United States. They illuminate the writers' creative responses to issues as diverse as resistance, aesthetics, biculturalism, sexuality, gender relations, racism, war, diaspora, and family. Rajini Srikanth teaches at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She is the coeditor of the award-winning anthology Contours of the Heart: South Asians Map North America and the collection A Part, Yet Apart: South Asians in Asian America. Esther Y. Iwanaga teaches Asian American literature and literature-based writing courses at Wellesley College and the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xiii
Introduction	xv
Rajini Srikanth
PART 1 MEMOIR
Introduction
The Voice That Passes through Me, An Interview with Meena Alexander	3	(7)
Esther Iwanaga
Rajini Srikanth
How My Stories Were Written	10	(4)
Carlos Bulosan
The Grandfather of the Sierra Nevada Mountains	14	(7)
Maxine Hong Kingston
The Faintest Echo of Our Language	21	(8)
Chang-Rae Lee
From Among the White Moon Faces: An Asian American Memoir of Homelands	29	(9)
Shirley Geok-Lin Lim
From My Own Country: A Doctor's Story of a Town and Its People in the Age of AIDS	38	(8)
Abraham Verghese
From Where the Body Meets Memory	46	(6)
David Mura
From Ono Ono Girl's Hula	52	(7)
Carolyn Lei-Lanilau
Pa	59	(10)
Loung Ung
PART 2 POETRY
Introduction
Absorbing and Being Absorbed by Poetry	69	(8)
Eleen Tabios
(Untitled)	77	(1)
Frances Chung
Filling the Gap	78	(2)
Lawson Fusao Inada
Thirty Years Under	80	(1)
Mitsuye Yamada
Cincinnati	81	(2)
Mitsuye Yamada
Smokey's Getting Old	83	(2)
Jessica Hagedorn
Recipe	85	(1)
Janice Mirikitani
Why Is Preparing Fish a Political Act?	86	(1)
Janice Mirikitani
Yellow Light	87	(2)
Garrett Hongo
The Gift	89	(1)
Li-Young Lee
Urban Love Songs	90	(3)
Wing Tek Lum
The Chocolatier	93	(1)
Tina Koyama
Strawberries	94	(2)
Eric Chock
This Room and Everything in It	96	(2)
Li-Young Lee
From ``In Search of Evanescence''	98	(2)
Agha Shahid Ali
Andy Warhol Speaks to His Two Filipino Maids	100	(1)
Alfred A. Yuson
Not Much Art	101	(2)
Indran Amirthanayagam
Ceylon	103	(2)
Indran Amirthanayagam
The Floral Apron	105	(1)
Marilyn Chin
Kala Gave Me Anykine Advice Especially about Filipinos When I Moved to Pahala	106	(2)
Lois-Ann Yamanaka
A Conservative View	108	(2)
Cathy Song
The Founding of Yuba City	110	(2)
Chitra Divakaruni
Prints	112	(1)
Christian Langworthy
Reading the Poem about the Yew Tree	113	(1)
Reetika Vazirani
News of the World	114	(2)
Meena Alexander
The Young of Tiananmen	116	(1)
Meena Alexander
They Don't Think Much about Us in America	117	(2)
Alfrredo Navarro Salanga
Walls	119	(1)
Luis H. Francia
Beetle on a String	120	(1)
Vince Gotera
Ch'onmun Hak	121	(2)
Walter K. Lew
Zenith	123	(2)
Barbara Tran
The Bitterness of Bodies We Bear	125	(2)
Bao-Long Chu
The Dead	127	(1)
Linh Dinh
Sister Play	128	(1)
Lan Duong
From The Redshifting Web	129	(1)
Arthur Sze
Projections	130	(3)
Christian Langworthy
PART 3 FICTION
Introduction
In That Valley Beautiful Beyond	133	(7)
Gary Pak
In the Land of the Free	140	(7)
Sui Sin Far
The Story of a Letter	147	(4)
Carlos Bulosan
He Who Has the Laughing Face	151	(3)
Toshio Mori
Seventeen Syllables	154	(10)
Hisaye Yamamoto
From No-No Boy	164	(6)
John Okada
From Clay Walls	170	(9)
Kim Ronyoung
Melpomene Tragedy	179	(6)
Theresa Hak Kyung Cha
Railroad Standard Time	185	(5)
Frank Chin
Batista and Tania Aparecida Djapan	190	(5)
Karen Tei Yamashita
The Valley of the Dead Air	195	(8)
Gary Pak
Rated-L	203	(2)
R. Zamora Linmark
Our Lady of Kalihi	205	(1)
R. Zamora Linmark
A New Beginning	206	(7)
John Yau
Kim	213	(6)
Jana Monji
Seeds	219	(7)
Monique T. D. Truong
Fredo Avila	226	(10)
Gina Apostol
A Difference of Background	236	(7)
Nurul Kabir
Elvis of Manila	243	(7)
Eric Gamalinda
From Monkey King	250	(7)
Patricia Chao
From A Cab Called Reliable	257	(3)
Patti Kim
The Goddess of Sleep	260	(4)
Ginu Kamani
From The Necessary Hunger	264	(8)
Nina Revoyr
Western Music	272	(8)
Linh Dinh
Chagrin	280	(5)
Tahira Naqvi
From The Foreign Student	285	(6)
Susan Choi
Show and Tell	291	(8)
Andrew Lam
Mrs. Sen's	299	(14)
Jhumpa Lahiri
The Shylocks	313	(10)
Cynthia Ignacio
PART 4 DRAMA
Introduction
Asian American Theater Awake at the Millennium	323	(10)
Roberta Uno
From Eye of the Coconut	333	(7)
Jeannie Barroga
From Assimilation	340	(11)
Shishir Kurup
Mask Dance	351	(36)
Rick Shiomi
From Mua He Do Lual Red Fiery Summer	387	(8)
Le Thi Diem Thuy
From Three Lives	395	(3)
Alex Luu
From Texas	398	(21)
Judy Soo Hoo
Appendix 1: Themes and Topics	419	(4)
Appendix 2: Ethnicity of Authors	423	(2)
Glossary	425	(2)
About the Contributors	427	(8)
About the Editors	435	(2)
Copyrights and Permissions	437	(4)
Index of Authors and Titles	441