This book examines the recent American cultural and literary preoccupation with Asia, exploring the corresponding historical-political situations - including China's Cultural Revolution and Japanese geisha culture - that have both circumscribed and enabled greater cultural and political contact between Asia and America.
Autorentext
Helena Grice is Senior Lecturer in American Literature at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth and is the author of Negotiating Identities and Maxine Hong Kingston.
Zusammenfassung
The last ten years have witnessed an enormous growth in American interest in Asia and Asian/American history. In particular, a set of key Asian historical moments have recently become the subject of intense American cultural scrutiny, namely China's Cultural Revolution and its aftermath; the Korean American war and its legacy; the era of Japanese geisha culture and its subsequent decline; and China's one-child policy and the rise of transracial, international adoption in its wake. Grice examines and accounts for this cultural and literary preoccupation, exploring the corresponding historical-political situations that have both circumscribed and enabled greater cultural and political contact between Asia and America.
Inhalt
Acknowledgements. 1. Reading Asian American Fiction, History and Life Writing: International Encounters 2. "The Escape from Asia Tradition": Cultural Revolution Expatriate Memoirs 3. Contemporary Transracial Adoption Narratives: Prospects and Perspectives 4. A Secret History: American Representations of Geisha Society 5. Korean Expatriate Writing and the History of the Korean Peninsula. Notes. Bibliography. Index