Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Asian-American Writers
Encyclopedia
Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Asian-American Writers is a 1974 anthology by Frank Chin
, Jeffery Paul Chan
, Lawson Fusao Inada
, Shawn Wong
and other members of the Combined Asian Resources Project (CARP). It helped establish Asian American Literature as a field by recovering and collecting representative selections from Chinese-, Japanese-, and Filipino-Americans from the past fifty years—many of whom had been mostly forgotten. This pan-Asian anthology included selections from Carlos Bulosan
, Diana Chang
, Louis Chu
, Momoko Iko, Wallace Lin, Toshio Mori
, John Okada
, Oscar Peñaranda, Sam Tagatac, Hisaye Yamamoto
, Wakako Yamauchi
, many of whom are now staples in Asian American literature course. Because of this anthology and the work of CARP, many of these authors have been republished; at that time, however, they received little attention from publishers critics because they didn't subscribe to popular stereotypes but depicted what Elaine H. Kim calls the "unstereotyped aspects of Asian American experience". In fact, the "aiiieeeee!" of the title comes from a stereotypical expression used by Asian characters in old movies, radio and television shows, comic books, etc. These same stereotypes affected the anthology itself: when the editors tried to find a publisher, they had to turn to a historically African-American press because, as Chin states:
The anthology is also notable for its opening essay, "Fifty Years of Our Whole Voice", which laid out a list of concerns facing Asian American writers--orientalism
, monolingualism, ghettoed communities, class issues, etc.--that have become important for Asian American scholarship. The essay also lays out the editors' understanding of what constitutes "a true Asian American sensibility": namely, that it is "non-Christian, nonfeminine, and nonimmigrant." These stances have been controversial, especially after the rise of Asian American women's literature (Maxine Hong Kingston
, Amy Tan
, et al.) and the change in Asian American demographics in the 1980s, when more Asian American writers were immigrants (e.g., Bharati Mukherjee
) and/or from other Asian cultures (e.g., Korean, Indian, Vietnamese).
, Milton Murayama
, Joy Kogawa
and others. It was even less representative of the variety of Asian cultures now active in the United States (it no longer contained any Filipino works), and it remained firm on its insistence on certain qualities as essential for determining "true" Asian American identity. These ideas are forcefully presented in Chin's introductory essay, "Come All Ye Asian American Writers of the Real and the Fake", in which he argues that Kingston, Tan, David Henry Hwang
and other popular Chinese American writers are not authentically Asian American, but rather follow the tradition of such mid-century Chinese American authors as Yung Wing
and Jade Snow Wong
, who wrote autobiographies (which Chin claims is "an exclusively Christian" genre) that accept "the Christian stereotype of Asia being as opposite morally from the West as it is geographically."
Frank Chin
Frank Chin is an American author and playwright.- Life and career :Frank Chin was born in Berkeley, California, but was raised to the age of six by a retired Vaudeville couple in Placerville, California. At six his mother brought him back to the San Francisco Bay Area to live in Oakland Chinatown...
, Jeffery Paul Chan
Jeffery Paul Chan
Jeffery Paul Chan is a Chinese American author. He is a professor of Asian American studies and English at San Francisco State University, where he also received his masters degree and has taught for 38 years until his retirement....
, Lawson Fusao Inada
Lawson Fusao Inada
Lawson Fusao Inada is an American poet and was the fifth poet laureate of the U.S. state of Oregon.-Early life:Inada is a third-generation Japanese American...
, Shawn Wong
Shawn Wong
Shawn Hsu Wong is an author and Professor of English and former Director of the University Honors Program , Chair of the Department of English , and Director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Washington where he has been on the faculty since 1984...
and other members of the Combined Asian Resources Project (CARP). It helped establish Asian American Literature as a field by recovering and collecting representative selections from Chinese-, Japanese-, and Filipino-Americans from the past fifty years—many of whom had been mostly forgotten. This pan-Asian anthology included selections from Carlos Bulosan
Carlos Bulosan
Also known as Julius Zafra , a Filipino, an English-language novelist and poet who spent most of his life in the United States, and is best known for the semi-autobiographical America Is in the Heart.-Life and career:Carlos Bulosan was born to Ilocano parents in...
, Diana Chang
Diana Chang
Diana Chang is a Chinese American novelist and poet. She is best known for her novel The Frontiers of Love, one of the earliest novels by an Asian American woman...
, Louis Chu
Louis Chu
Louis Hing Chu was a pioneer of Asian American literature with his only published work Eat a Bowl of Tea.Immigrating to New Jersey from Toishan, China, Chu completed a high school education and followed to receive a bachelor's degree from Upsala College and a Masters degree in sociology from New...
, Momoko Iko, Wallace Lin, Toshio Mori
Toshio Mori
Toshio Mori is an American author, best known for being one of the earliest Japanese American writers to publish a book of fiction.-Biography:...
, John Okada
John Okada
John Okada was a Japanese-American writer. Born in Seattle, Washington, he was a student at the University of Washington when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Okada and his family were interned at Minidoka in 1942...
, Oscar Peñaranda, Sam Tagatac, Hisaye Yamamoto
Hisaye Yamamoto
Hisaye Yamamoto was a Japanese American author. She is best known for the short story collection Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories, first published in 1988...
, Wakako Yamauchi
Wakako yamauchi
Wakako Yamauchi is a Nisei Asian American female writer. Her plays are considered pioneering works in Asian American theatre.- Biography :...
, many of whom are now staples in Asian American literature course. Because of this anthology and the work of CARP, many of these authors have been republished; at that time, however, they received little attention from publishers critics because they didn't subscribe to popular stereotypes but depicted what Elaine H. Kim calls the "unstereotyped aspects of Asian American experience". In fact, the "aiiieeeee!" of the title comes from a stereotypical expression used by Asian characters in old movies, radio and television shows, comic books, etc. These same stereotypes affected the anthology itself: when the editors tried to find a publisher, they had to turn to a historically African-American press because, as Chin states:
The blacks were the first to take us seriously and sustained the spirit of many Asian American writers.... [I]t wasn't surprising to us that Howard University PressHoward University PressHoward University Press was a publisher that was part of Howard University, founded in 1972. It closed in 2011, and a majority of its titles were acquired by Black Classic Press....
understood us and set out to publish our book with their first list. They liked our English we spoke [sic] and didn't accuse us of unwholesome literary devices.
The anthology is also notable for its opening essay, "Fifty Years of Our Whole Voice", which laid out a list of concerns facing Asian American writers--orientalism
Orientalism
Orientalism is a term used for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists, as well as having other meanings...
, monolingualism, ghettoed communities, class issues, etc.--that have become important for Asian American scholarship. The essay also lays out the editors' understanding of what constitutes "a true Asian American sensibility": namely, that it is "non-Christian, nonfeminine, and nonimmigrant." These stances have been controversial, especially after the rise of Asian American women's literature (Maxine Hong Kingston
Maxine Hong Kingston
Maxine Hong Kingston is a Chinese American author and Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, where she graduated with a BA in English in 1962. Kingston has written three novels and several works of non-fiction about the experiences of Chinese immigrants living in the United...
, Amy Tan
Amy Tan
Amy Tan is an American writer whose works explore mother-daughter relationships. Her most well-known work is The Joy Luck Club, which has been translated into 35 languages...
, et al.) and the change in Asian American demographics in the 1980s, when more Asian American writers were immigrants (e.g., Bharati Mukherjee
Bharati Mukherjee
Bharati Mukherjee is an award-winning Indian-born American writer. She is currently a professor in the department of English at the University of California, Berkeley.-Background:...
) and/or from other Asian cultures (e.g., Korean, Indian, Vietnamese).
The Big Aiiieeeee!
An expanded edition, The Big Aiiieeeee! was published in 1991 and added such authors as Sui Sin Far, Monica SoneMonica Sone
Monica Sone was a Japanese American writer, best known for her 1953 autobiographical memoir Nisei Daughter, which tells of the Japanese American experience in Seattle during the 1920s and 30s, and in the World War II internment camps and which is an important text in Asian American and Women's...
, Milton Murayama
Milton Murayama
Milton Murayama is an American Nisei novelist and playwright. His first novel, All I Asking for Is My Body is considered a classic novel of the experiences of Japanese Americans in Hawaii before and during World War II.-Biography:Murayama was born in Maui, Hawaii to Japanese immigrant parents...
, Joy Kogawa
Joy Kogawa
Joy Nozomi Kogawa, CM, OBC is a Canadian poet and novelist of Japanese descent.-Life:Born Joy Nozomi Nakayama in Vancouver, British Columbia, she was sent with her family to the internment camp for Japanese Canadians at Slocan during World War II...
and others. It was even less representative of the variety of Asian cultures now active in the United States (it no longer contained any Filipino works), and it remained firm on its insistence on certain qualities as essential for determining "true" Asian American identity. These ideas are forcefully presented in Chin's introductory essay, "Come All Ye Asian American Writers of the Real and the Fake", in which he argues that Kingston, Tan, David Henry Hwang
David Henry Hwang
David Henry Hwang is an American playwright who has risen to prominence as the preeminent Asian American dramatist in the U.S.He was born in Los Angeles, California and was educated at the Yale School of Drama and Stanford University...
and other popular Chinese American writers are not authentically Asian American, but rather follow the tradition of such mid-century Chinese American authors as Yung Wing
Yung Wing
Yung Wing . Born in Zhuhai in Guangdong province, he studied in Robert Morrison's missionary schools as a boy where Tong King-sing was a classmate.-Biography:...
and Jade Snow Wong
Jade Snow Wong
Jade Snow Wong was an American ceramic artist and author of two autobiographical volumes.- Biography :Wong was born in San Francisco and brought her family that maintained traditional Chinese customs...
, who wrote autobiographies (which Chin claims is "an exclusively Christian" genre) that accept "the Christian stereotype of Asia being as opposite morally from the West as it is geographically."
See also
- Asian American literatureAsian American literatureAlthough immigrants from Asia and Americans of Asian descent have been writing in the United States since the 19th century, Asian American literature as a category of writing only came into existence in the early 1970s...
- Chinese American literatureChinese American literatureChinese American literature is the body of literature produced in the United States by writers of Chinese descent. The genre began in the 19th century and flowered in the 20th with such authors as Sui Sin Far, Frank Chin, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Amy Tan....
- List of Asian American writers
- List of American writers of Korean descent
Additional sources
- David Leiwei Li devotes an entire chapter to Aiiieeeee! in his book
- Partridge, Jeffrey F. L. and Shawn Wong. "Aiiieeeee! And the Asian American Literary Movement: A Conversation with Shawn Wong." MELUS 29.3/4 (2004): 91-102, accessed 14 August 2010.