Book contents
- The Cambridge History ofAsian American Literature
- The Cambridge History of Asian American Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Introduction
- Part I Early Forms of Expression to the Start of the Twentieth Century
- 1 The Origins of Chinese American Autobiography
- 2 Stage Orientalism and Asian American Performance from the Nineteenth into the Twentieth Century
- 3 “I Seek Out Poems Now Incomplete”: Writing from the Angel Island Immigration Station
- 4 The Eaton Sisters and the Figure of the Eurasian
- Part II The Exclusion Era, World War II, and the Immediate Postwar Era
- Part III The Asian American Movement
- Part IV Canons
- Part V Post-1965 and the Twenty-First Century
- Part VI Twenty-First Century: 9/11, Empire, and Other Challenges to Literature
- Bibliography
- Index
1 - The Origins of Chinese American Autobiography
from Part I - Early Forms of Expression to the Start of the Twentieth Century
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2015
By
Book contents
- The Cambridge History ofAsian American Literature
- The Cambridge History of Asian American Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Introduction
- Part I Early Forms of Expression to the Start of the Twentieth Century
- 1 The Origins of Chinese American Autobiography
- 2 Stage Orientalism and Asian American Performance from the Nineteenth into the Twentieth Century
- 3 “I Seek Out Poems Now Incomplete”: Writing from the Angel Island Immigration Station
- 4 The Eaton Sisters and the Figure of the Eurasian
- Part II The Exclusion Era, World War II, and the Immediate Postwar Era
- Part III The Asian American Movement
- Part IV Canons
- Part V Post-1965 and the Twenty-First Century
- Part VI Twenty-First Century: 9/11, Empire, and Other Challenges to Literature
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Like many authors today, early writers often found that their only means of entry into mainstream discourse was through positioning themselves as cultural representatives. From there, some take the opportunity to assert themselves as artists and political agents, while also negotiating new ways of understanding China as a nation or Chinese Americans as a group. Still others capitalize on the general receptivity toward autobiography to achieve different aesthetic and ideological goals. While early Chinese American writers desired access to mainstream print culture for various reasons, and while many mainstream readers desired knowledge of China and Chinese culture through their auto ethnographic works, present-day scholars in Asian American studies sometimes turn to their life writings for documentary reasons. The origins of Chinese American autobiography reside in the idea that a Chinese American self must be constructed and new models can be forged, no matter the social and literary constraints.
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- Information
- The Cambridge History of Asian American Literature , pp. 39 - 54Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2015