Asian American Literature: An Encyclopedia for Students

by Keith Lawrence

Overview

Asian American Literature: An Encyclopedia for Students is an invaluable resource for students curious to know more about Asian North American writers, texts, and the issues and drives that motivate their writing.

This volume collects, in one place, a breadth of information about Asian American literary and cultural history as well as the authors and texts that best define it.

A dozen contextual essays introduce fundamental elements or subcategories of Asian American literature, expanding on social and literary concerns or tensions that are familiar and relevant. Essays include the origins and development of the term "Asian American"; overviews of Asian American and Asian Canadian social and literary histories; essays on Asian American identity, gender issues, and sexuality; and discussions of Asian American rhetoric and children's literature.

More than 120 alphabetical entries round out the volume and cover important Asian North American authors. Historical information is presented in clear and engaging ways, and author entries emphasize biographical or textual details that are significant to contemporary young adults. Special attention has been given to pioneering authors from the late 19th century through the early 1970s and to influential or well-known contemporary authors, especially those likely to be studied in high school or university classrooms.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781440872884
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/25/2021
Pages:	424
Sales rank:	1,159,358
Product dimensions:	7.25(w) x 10.25(h) x 1.25(d)

About the Author

Keith Lawrence is associate professor of English at Brigham Young University.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: An Overview of Asian North American Literature
Overview Essays
Asian North American History
Asian North American Rhetoric and Literary Criticism
Asian North American Literary Themes
Asian North American Literary Stereotypes
Asian North American Identities
Asian North American Gender and Sexuality
Asian North American Children's Literature
A–Z Entries
Alexander, Meena
Bacho, Peter
Bui, Thi
Bulosan, Carlos
Cao, Lan
Cha, Theresa Hak Kyung
Chan, Jeffrey Paul
Chang, Diana
Cheung, King-Kok
Chin, Ava
Chin, Frank
Chin, Justin
Chong, Denise
Chopra, Deepak
Choy, Wayson
Chu, Louis
Desai, Kiran
Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee
Eaton, Edith Maude (Sui Sin Far)
Eaton, Winnifred (Onoto Watanna)
Espiritu, Augusto F.
Gotanda, Philip Kan
Goto, Hiromi
Hagedorn, Jessica
Hahn, Kimiko
Hartmann, Sadakichi
Hasu Houston, Velina
Hayakawa, S. I.
Hongo, Garrett
Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki
Hwang, David Henry
Inada, Lawson Fusao
Jen, Gish
Jin, Ha
Kadohata, Cynthia
Kakutani, Michiko
Kang, Younghill
Keller, Nora Okja
Kim, Elaine H.
Kim, Richard E.
Kim, Ronyoung
Kingston, Maxine Hong
Kogawa, Joy
Lahiri, Nilanjana Sudeshna "Jhumpa"
Lau, Evelyn
Lee, Ang
Lee, Chang-rae
Lee, Don
Lee, Li-Young
Lee, SKY
Lee, Yan Phou (Lee Enfu)
Leong, Russell
Lim, Shirley Geok-Lin
Liu, Aimee
Liu, Ken
Liu, Marjorie
Liu, Timothy
Louie, David Wong
Lum, Darrell H. Y.
Minatoya, Lydia
Mori, Kyoko
Mori, Toshio
Mukherjee, Bharati
Mura, David
Murayama, Milton
Namioka, Lensey
Ng, Celeste
Ng, Fae Myenne
Nguyen, Viet Thanh
Noguchi, Yone
Nunez, Sigrid
Okada, John
Okihiro, Gary Y.
Okubo, Miné
Ondaatje, Michael
Ong, Han
Otsuka, Julie
Ozeki, Ruth
Phi, Bao
Santos, Bienvenido N.
See, Lisa
Selvadurai, Shyam
Shioya, Sakae
Sindu, SJ
Sone, Monica
Song, Cathy
Sugimoto, Etsu Inagaki
Sukrungruang, Ira
Suleri, Sara
Tan, Amy
Thúy, Lê Thị Diễm
Tomine, Adrian
Tsukiyama, Gail
Uchida, Yoshiko
Villa, José García
Wah, Fred
Wang, Qingfu (Wong Chin Foo)
Wang, Wayne
Wing, Yung
Wong, Jade Snow
Wong, Shawn
Worra, Bryan Thao
Yamada, Mitsuye
Yamamoto, Hisaye
Yamanaka, Lois-Ann
Yamashita, Karen Tei
Yamauchi, Wakako
Yang, Gene Luen
Yau, John
Yee, Lisa
Yee, Paul
Yep, Laurence
Yu, Charles
About the Editor and Contributors
Index

Editorial Reviews

Recommended for college and university collections.” —Booklist

“This new guide is directed primarily at students (middle school through college) and will be useful to them and to general readers, as well as the teachers and libraries helping them.” —Library Jourbanal

“Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; general readers.” —Choice

From the Publisher

11/01/2021

Lawrence (English, Brigham Young Univ.) and the contributors to this encyclopedia have created a helpful guide to Asian American and Asian Canadian literature, starting with the writings of the first Asian immigrants to North America (primarily from China, circa 1850 to the 1880s). The encyclopedia covers novelists, essayists, journalists, and children's book writers, of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, Singaporean, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander descent. Detailed essays on Asian American history, rhetoric and literary criticism, literary themes, literary stereotypes, identities, gender and sexuality, and children's literature are followed by more than 120 alphabetically arranged entries (each about a thousand words long) on writers including Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Cynthia Kadohata, Ken Liu, Celeste Ng, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and SJ Sindu. Each entry includes a biography of the writer, a discussion of their major works and prizes, and a list of further reading. VERDICT While Greenwood's three-volume Encyclopedia of Asian American Literature covers more writers, has longer entries, and is more scholarly, this new guide is directed primarily at students (middle school through college) and will be useful to them and to general readers, as well as the teachers and libraries helping them.—Marcia G. Welsh, formerly at Dartmouth Coll. Lib., Hanover, NH

Library Journal