Narratives of Diaspora: Representations of Asia in Chinese American Literature

199 Pages·2013·3.681 MB·English

by  Walter S. H. Lim (auth.)

Narratives of Diaspora

Narratives of Diaspora
Representations of Asia in
Chinese American Literature
Walter S. H. Lim
narratives of diaspora
Copyright © Walter S. H. Lim 2013
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013 978-0-230-34006-0
All rights reserved.
First published in 2013 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United
States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New
York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of
the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan
Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above
companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United
States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-34264-8 ISBN 978-1-137-05554-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137055545
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Lim, Walter S. H., 1959–
Narratives of diaspora : representations of Asia in Chinese American
literature / by Walter S. H. Lim.
pages cm
1. American literature— Chinese American authors— History and
criticism. 2. American literature— 20th century— History and criticism.
3. American literature— 21st century— History and criticism. 4. Asia— In
literature. I. Title.
PS153.C45L55 2014
810.9'005— dc23 2013026025
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Scribe Inc.
First edition: December 2013
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For
Rebecca, Brandon, and Joshua
And in memory of
Little Asia
Contents
Note on Chinese Romanization ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1 The Sino- Japanese War and Chinese History in
Amy Tan’s Novels and Lisa See’s Shanghai Girls 13
2 The Vietnam War and the Cultural Politics of
Loyalty in Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Fifth
Book of Peace 37
3 Sexual Politics, Buddhism, and Transnationalism in
Russell Leong’s The Country of Dreams and Dust and
Phoenix Eyes 61
4 Writing Exile and Diaspora in Li- Young Lee’s
The Winged Seed and The City in Which I Love You 85
5 Postcolonial Southeast Asian Transnationalism
in Shirley Geok- lin Lim’s Among the White Moon
Faces and Sister Swing 111
6 Writing Communist China and the Politics of
Diasporic Identity: Ha Jin, Anchee Min, Lien Chao,
and Lisa See 135
Conclusion: Chinese American Literature in the
Twenty- First Century 157
Notes 165
Bibliography 181
Index 189
Note on Chinese Romanization
In general I use the Pinyin Romanization system for Chinese names, places,
and terms in this book, except where I retain an author’s preferred Roman-
ized forms in his or her literary works or when I refer to familiar histori-
cal designations such as Chiang Kai-s hek, Sun Yat- sen, and Kuomintang.
Where clarity is needed, I indicate Romanized variants in parenthesis or
include an explanatory note.
Acknowledgments
Thoughts on the subject matter of this book began many years ago when I
started teaching Asian American Literature in the Department of English
Language and Literature at the National University of Singapore. These
ideas developed over time with input from conversations I had along cor-
ridors, at conferences, at seminars, and over email with Susan Ang, King-
Kok Cheung, Russell Leong, Shirley Geok-l in Lim, Jeffrey Partridge, and
Gilbert Yeoh. The process of converting these ideas into words was made
easier with the timely assistance of Susan Ang, who read the entire manu-
script in its raw form. I thank Jane Nardin, Barnard Turner, and Gilbert
Yeoh for taking time from their busy schedules to read draft chapters and
for helpful suggestions. I thank Brigitte Shull of Palgrave Macmillan for
her support of this project from the start and also the anonymous reader of
the press for suggestions that have proven tremendously helpful. Heartfelt
thanks also go to Anita Salvaleon whose cooking is beyond compare and
whose presence prevents my home from spiraling into chaos. To my wife
Rebecca who is always there for me and to my sons Brandon and Joshua—
born in transnational spaces—t his book is affectionately dedicated.
Some early materials from the following publications have been sub-
stantially revised and incorporated into this book: “Buddhist Nationalism
and Transnationalism in Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Fifth Book of Peace
and Russell Leong’s Phoenix Eyes,” in The City and the Ocean: Journeys,
Memory, Imagination, ed. Jonathan White and I-C hun Wang (Newcas-
tle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2012), 229– 47; “Ethnicity and the
Southeast Asian Diaspora in Li- Young Lee’s The Winged Seed,” in Narrat-
ing Race: Asia, (Trans)nationalism, Social Change, ed. Robbie B. H. Goh
(Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2011), 69– 88; “Forgetting and Re- membering:
Shirley Geok-l in Lim, Li-Y oung Lee, and the Southeast Asian Diaspora,”
Re- Markings 10, no. 2 (2011): 27– 35; “Writing the Chinese and South-
east Asian Diasporas in Russell Leong’s Phoenix Eyes,” in Asian Diasporas:
xii ● Acknowledgments
Cultures, Identities, Representation, ed. Robbie B. H. Goh and Shawn
Wong (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2004), 149–6 0; and
“Class, Labor, and Immigrant Subjectivity in Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine
and Shirley Geok-l in Lim’s Among the White Moon Faces,” Journeys 10
(2009): 4–2 8. I am grateful to these journals and presses as well as to
Dr. Nibir Ghosh, chief editor of Re- markings, for permission to reprint
material here.