Imagining America: Stories from the Promised Land

by Brown, Wesley

• ISBN13: 9780892552771
• ISBN10: 0892552778
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2003-03-17
• Publisher: PERSEA

Summary

Thirty-seven short stories from 1900 to the present, written by some of our best authors'”African, Asian, European, Jewish, Middle Eastern, and Native American'”follow the waves of immigration into and migration within the United States. These stories are unique in time and circumstance, yet they address a common dilemma: how to reconcile America's mythologized "promise" with its more complex reality. New to the collection are Sherman Alexie, Michelle Cliff, Edwidge Danticat, Junot Diaz, Chitra Divakaruni, Jewelle Gomez, Thomas King, Bruce Morrow, Agnes Rossi, and David Wong Louie. They join Toni Cade Bambara, Richard Bausch, Marita Bonner, Nash Candelaria, Sandra Cisneros, Louise Erdrich, Mei Mei Evans, Oscar Hijuelos, Gish Jen, LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka, Kim Yong Ik, Monfoon Leong, Bernard Malamud, Paule Marshall, Nicholasa Mohr, Toshio Mori, Bharati Mukherjee, Mikhail Naimy, Tahira Naqvi, Gregory Orfalea, Grace Paley, Jeanne Schinto, Leslie Marmon Silko, Michael Stephens, Sui Sin Far, Alice Walker, and Hisaye Yamamoto'”making this, once again, the most authoritative and useful multicultural collection available.

Author Biography

Wesley Brown, novelist and playwright, teaches at Rutgers University Amy Ling (d. 1999), critic and scholar, was the founding director of the Asian American Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin, Madison

Table of Contents

Introduction	ix
I. ARRIVING
In the Land of the Free	3	(9)
Sui Sin Far
The Whipping	12	(9)
Marita Bonner
The English Lesson	21	(14)
Nicholasa Mohr
The German Refugee	35	(12)
Bernard Malamud
They Won't Crack It Open	47	(10)
Kim Yong Ik
A Wife's Story	57	(13)
Bharati Mukherjee
Silver Pavements, Golden Roofs	70	(14)
Chitra Divakaruni
The Blossoming of Bongbong	84	(14)
Jessica Hagedorn
Children of the Sea	98	(17)
Edwidge Danticat
II. BELONGING
His Grace	115	(6)
Mikhail Naimy
Japanese Hamlet	121	(3)
Toshio Mori
New Year for Fong Wing	124	(9)
Monfoon Leong
Seventeen Syllables	133	(12)
Hisaye Yamamoto
The Lesson	145	(8)
Toni Cade Bambara
The Death of Horatio Alger	153	(5)
LeRoi Jones
Amiri Baraka
In the American Society	158	(14)
Gish Jen
Near the End of the World	172	(10)
Bruce Morrow
Don't Explain	182	(9)
Jewelle Gomez
Hungry Dog	191	(8)
Agnes Rossi
III. CROSSINGS
The Loudest Voice	199	(6)
Grace Paley
The Man to Send Rain Clouds	205	(5)
Leslie Marmon Silko
American Horse	210	(11)
Louise Erdrich
El Patron	221	(8)
Nash Candelaria
Thank God for the Jews	229	(8)
Tahira Naqvi
Gussuk	237	(15)
Mei Mei Evans
Barbie-Q	252	(2)
Sandra Cisneros
Birthday	254	(11)
David Wong Louie
Borders	265	(11)
Thomas King
How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie	276	(7)
Junot Diaz
IV. REMEMBERING
Old West	283	(24)
Richard Bausch
Elethia	307	(3)
Alice Walker
Visitors, 1965	310	(16)
Oscar Hijuelos
The Disappearance	326	(19)
Jeanne Schinto
The Chandelier	345	(11)
Gregory Orfalea
Five Jack Cool	356	(12)
Michael Stephens
To Da-duh, In Memoriam	368	(10)
Paule Marshall
Election Day, 1984	378	(9)
Michelle Cliff
A Drug Called Tradition	387	(8)
Sherman Alexie
Biographical Notes	395