Asian Literary Voices

Philip F. Williams has published nine books in East Asian studies, including The Great Wall of Confinement (UCal, 2004), and has been Professor of Chinese at Massey University and Arizona State University. --

"The growing heterogeneity of Asian American and Asian diasporic voices has also given rise to variegated theoretical approaches to these literatures. This book attempts to encompass both the increasing awareness of diasporic and transnational issues, and more ""traditional"" analyses of Asian American culture and literature. Thus, the articles in this collection range from investigations into the politics of literary and cinematic representation, to ""digging"" into the past through ""literary archeology"", or analyzing how ""consequential"" bodies can be in recent literature by Asian American and Asian diasporic women writers. The book closes with an interview with critic and writer Shirley Lim, where she insightfully deals with these ""transnational, national, and personal"" issues. Elisabetta Marino is Assistant Professor of English literature at the University of Rome ""Tor Vergata"". Her main fields of interest are Asian American and Asian British literature, children's literature, Italian American literature. Begoña Simal is Assistant Professor of English literature at the Universidade da Coruña, Spain. She has published critical work on both Asian American literature and comparative ""cross-ethnic"" studies. "

A selection of papers presented at the Symposium on English Literature by Asian authors entitled Asian Voices in English held at The University of Hong Kong, 27-30 April 1990. Two kinds of writing experience are focused upon: one is the experience of post-colonial writers, who are re-appropriating the English language for their own cultural purposes. The other is the experience of immigrant writers, who bring an Asian view to bear on the culture of the English-speaking countries in which they live.

Winnifred Eaton, better known under her Japanese pseudonym, Onoto Watanna, was of English and Chinese heritage, but born and raised in Canada. She published over a dozen novels and hundreds of short stories, magazine articles, and screenplays during the first half of the twentieth century. Her romances featuring Japanese and Eurasian heroines sold widely. However, by the time of her death in 1954, most of her books were out of print. Winnifred (unlike her sister, the better-known writer Edith Eaton) has been a troubling figure for Asian Americanists. She attempted to disguise her ethnic heritage, writing under a Japanese pen name, and in legal documents, she usually claimed a white racial identity. Scholars have noted her use of Orientalist stereotypes in her novels, and even though she depicted a broad range of non-Asian characters - such as Irish maids and cowboys - her pottrayals often relied on the accepted stereotypes of the day. Rather than dismiss her characterizations as evasions of the topics that readers today wish she had explored, Jean Lee Cole asks why Winnifred Eaton may have chosen the subjects she did. Cole shows that the many voices Eaton adopted reveal her deep

Spanning more than a millennium, this anthology gathers literary sources from across the entire region of Southeast Asia. Its 24 selections derive from a variety of genres and reflect the diverse range of cultural influences the region has experienced. The literary excerpts illustrate the impact of religious and ideological currents from early Buddhism to Islam and Roman Catholicism. The selections reveal how cultural influences from South Asia, China, the Arabic world, and Europe arrived in Southeast Asia and left their marks in the realms of literature, society, and culture. The readings include religious works, folklore, epic poems, short stories, and the modern novel. They range from the Cambodian medieval version of the Ramayana to the 16th century Javanese tales to modern Thai short stories and include selections from Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Laos, Philippines, and Burma.

Voices of East Asia provides significant yet accessible readings in translation chosen to stimulate interest in the long and rich cultural history of East Asia, the countries of China, Japan, and Korea. The readings range from ancient to modern, elite to popular, and include poetry, stories, essays, and drama. Each section begins with a broad but brief overview of that country’s political and cultural history. Each reading is preceded by a concise explanation of its literary and cultural context. As expertise in East Asian studies has exploded in the West in recent decades, a novice could be overwhelmed by all the materials available now. In this volume, however, the reader will find a manageable set of texts that may be read on their own, as part of a world literature course, or as supplementary readings for an East Asian history class. As economic and political news from East Asia sweeps across the world, this anthology aims to provide a taste of the enduring traditions upon which contemporary East Asia is built, a glimpse into the hopes and fears, love and sorrow in the hearts of the people behind the headlines. This anthology will be welcomed by students and scholars of Asian history, culture, society and literature.

"Post-World War II mass migration to Great Britain altered its demographic composition more markedly than in any other period in its history, resulting in a modern multicultural nation state shaped by the ethnic diversity of its citizenry. Populations from African, Caribbean, and South Asian locations arriving in Britain post-war brought diasporic sensibilities and literary heritages that have profoundly transformed British national culture, leading to a more complex and inclusive sense of its past. The Companion to British Black and Asian Literature (1945-2010) examines the creative impact of this rich infusion upon English literature against the backdrop of the seismic social and economic changes triggered by colonialism and migration, multiculturalism, and contemporary globalization"--