Asian American Literature: A Brief Introduction and Anthology

"Asian American Literature: A Brief Introduction andAnthology," edited by Shawn Wong, is an impressiveachievement. The book gathers a range of pieces in many genres by morethan 30 authors. The authors represented are a diverse group. There isa good balance of male and female writers. The authors represent bothUnited States-born individuals and immigrants. One author, Frank Chin,is a fifth-generation Chinese American. Other authors trace theirroots to Japan, India, China, Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines,Indonesia, Malaysia, or Laos. Some represent biracialbackgrounds. Several generations of writers, from Sui Sin Far(1867-1914) to Monique Thuy-Dung Truong (b. 1968) arerepresented. Several genres of literature are also represented. Theselections in the anthology are grouped into four sections: nonfictionprose, fiction, poetry, and drama. Each author's contribution ispreceded by an interesting individual introduction which containsuseful bibliographic data; this material is further supplemented by abibliography at the end of the book. Editor Wong also includes afascinating preface to the whole book. This supplemental material isfull of interesting information, such as the story of Wong'srediscovery of pioneering Japanese American writer Toshio Mori. Thereare many highlights to this fine anthology: Amy Tan's essay"Mother Tongue," in which she reflects on "thedifferent Englishes" she uses; Bienvenido Santos' "Quickerwith Arrows," a story of interracial love during World War II;Bharati Mukherjee's "The Management of Grief," a story aboutthe aftermath of an apparent terrorist bombing; Lawson Fusao Inada's"Legends from Camp," a cycle of poems about the internmentof Japanese Americans in U.S. concentration camps during World War II;Watako Yamauchi's "The Music Lessons," a play about thestruggles of a Japanese American family during the Depression of the1930s; and much more. I did find a small number of typographicalerrors or apparent factual mistakes throughout the book; for example,at one point Frank Chin's novel "Donald Duk" seems to bemistakenly referred to as "Donald Pink" (I know of no novelby the latter name). And the concluding bibliography, while useful, isconfusingly presented. But these problems aside, I found "AsianAmerican Literature" to be an enriching anthology. This is one ofthose wonderful books that is excellent both for classroom use and forindividual reading. I believe that this book will move you emotionallyand impress you artistically while at the same time educating youabout Asian American culture.