Trauma, Precarity and War Memories in Asian American Writings

147 Pages·2020·1.5 MB·English

by  Jade Tsui-yu Lee

Trauma, Precarity and
War Memories in Asian
American Writings
Trauma, Precarity and War Memories in Asian
American Writings
“Jade Tsui-yu Lee did a fine job with a complex subject.”
—Stephen Ohlander, Professor, National Kaohsiung Normal University, Taiwan
“With a consistent theme, the work has depth and gravity.”
—Yu-cheng Lee, Adjunct Research Fellow, Institute of European and American
Studies, Academic Sinica, Taiwan
Jade Tsui-yu Lee
Trauma, Precarity
and War Memories
in Asian American
Writings
Jade Tsui-yu Lee
National Kaohsiung Normal University
Kaohsiung, Taiwan
ISBN 978-981-15-6362-1 ISBN 978-981-15-6363-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6363-8
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2020
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Preface
Departing from Jacques Derrida’s appropriations of cinders as a trope
of war atrocity aftermath, this book will examine writings that deal with
war trauma memories in Asian-American communities. Seeing war expe-
riencesandtheirassociativediasporasandaffectsasthecoreandaxis,this
book hopes to address the multifarious poetics and politics of minority
trauma writings and posit a possible interpretive framework for contem-
porary Asian-American writings, including those written by Julie Otsuka,
Joseph Craig Danner, Monique Truong, Nguyen Viet Thanh, Janice
Lowe Shinebourne, and André Lamontagne. As the writings in questions
contain works regarding Japanese American, Indo-Chinese Guyanese,
Chinese Quebeçois, Vietnamese exiles/refugees, and Vietnam-American
experiences, this book is expected to present a broader view on migra-
tion and minority issues triggered by wars and precarious conditions, as
thediversifiedexperiences examined hereepitomizeanintricate historical
intimacyacrossfourcontinents:Asia,NorthAmerica,Africa,andEurope,
as proposed by Lisa Lowe.
The project is distinctive as it covers emergent writers who deal with
war memories of Asian-American groups. As more and more regions and
countries in Asia and near Pacific rim areas begin to pay attention to
precarity condition and war aftermath, the project not only captures the
interconnectivity among heterogeneous war trauma experiences, calls the
v
vi PREFACE
readers’attentiontorevisiontheglobalandlocal–globalrelationsbutalso
initiates critical dialogues among these writings.
Kaohsiung, Taiwan Jade Tsui-yu Lee
Acknowledgments
This writer acknowledges the support and generosity of Professor André
Lamontagne, and David and Ekstasis publishers, for their kind autho-
rization and permission to use the two photos on the covers of Les
Fossoyeurs and The Gravediggers in this book. Special and foremost grati-
tude should go to Professor Yu-cheng Lee for his continuous inspiration
and long-term support.
ThebookisaResearchProjectofAcademicPublicationsSponsoredby
Ministry of Science and Technology in Taiwan, R.O.C.
vii
Contents
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Precarity and Trauma 4
1.2 Trauma, Precarity, and the Politics/Poetics of Asian
Others 11
1.3 Book Organization 18
1.4 The Vietnam War and Refugee Writings 20
1.5 Postmemory and Transoceanic Coolitude 22
2 Japanese (Post)-Internment Narratives 27
2.1 Against Historical Amnesia: Julie Otsuka’s When
the Emperor Was Divine and Buddha in the Attic 28
2.2 Politics of War Memories: Remembering the Japanese
Internment in Joseph Craig Danner’s The Fires
of Edgarville 42
3 The Vietnam War and Refugee Writings 57
3.1 Monique Truong’s Bitter in the Mouth: A Gothic
and Liminal Narrative of Trauma 58
3.2 “All Wars Were Fought Twice”: Viet Thanh Nguyen
and Refugee Trauma Memories 76
ix
x CONTENTS
4 Postmemory and Transoceanic Coolitude 89
4.1 Beyond Precarity and Trauma: Janice Lowe
Shinebourne’s The Last Ship 90
4.2 Post 911 Trauma in Janice Lowe Shinebourne’s
Chinese Women 100
4.3 In the Shadow of Modernity: The Search for Chinese
Ghosts in Andre Lamontagne’s Les fossoyeurs: Dans
le memoire de Quebec (Gravediggers) 111
5 Conclusion 125
Works Cited 129
Index 139
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
Abstract The main goal of this book is to raise awareness about the
need for a critical voice of Asian Americans as the groups have acquired
increasing attention in global society. The introductory chapter presents
the rationale for the book’s primary concern with the shared and conver-
gentexperiencesofwartraumaamongvariousAsian-Americanminorities.
The diverse writers giving insight to a spectrum of figures affected by
warreinventaformofcommunityandtogethernessthroughtheirstories
remembering their war experiences. In the trying times rife with fear and
anxiety,oneisabletofindhealingpowerforthewoundsandinjuries,and
a sense of home. By situating the writings amid historical, political, and
social contexts, the chapter details the interconnectivity among heteroge-
neouswartraumaexperiencesanddemandsthenecessitytoinitiatecritical
dialogues among these writings.
Keywords Trauma · Precarity · War memories · Coolitude · Asian
American writings · The Chinese Exclusion Act · Japanese-American
Relocation · Kala Pani
Departing from Jacques Derrida’s appropriations of cinders as a trope
of war atrocity aftermath, this book will examine writings that deal
with war trauma memories in Asian-American communities. Seeing war
experiences and their associative diasporas and affects as the core and
© The Author(s) 2020 1
J. T. Lee, Trauma, Precarity and War Memories
in Asian American Writings,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6363-8_1