Interracial Encounters : Reciprocal Representations in African and Asian American Literatures, 1896-1937 / Julia H. Lee.
2011
PS153.N5 L39 2016
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Title
Interracial Encounters : Reciprocal Representations in African and Asian American Literatures, 1896-1937 / Julia H. Lee.
Author
Lee, Julia H., author.
ISBN
9780814752579
Published
New York, NY : : New York University Press, [2011]
Copyright
©2011
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource
Other Standard Identifiers
10.18574/nyu/9780814752555.001.0001 doi
Call Number
PS153.N5 L39 2016
Dewey Decimal Classification
810.9896073
Summary
2013 Honorable Mention, Asian American Studies Association's prize in Literary Studies Part of the American Literatures Initiative SeriesWhy do black characters appear so frequently in Asian American literary works and Asian characters appear in African American literary works in the early twentieth century? Interracial Encounters attempts to answer this rather straightforward literary question, arguing that scenes depicting Black-Asian interactions, relationships, and conflicts capture the constitution of African American and Asian American identities as each group struggled to negotiate the racially exclusionary nature of American identity. In this nuanced study, Julia H. Lee argues that the diversity and ambiguity that characterize these textual moments radically undermine the popular notion that the history of Afro-Asian relations can be reduced to a monolithic, media-friendly narrative, whether of cooperation or antagonism. Drawing on works by Charles Chesnutt, Wu Tingfang, Edith and Winnifred Eaton, Nella Larsen, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Younghill Kang, Interracial Encounters foregrounds how these reciprocal representations emerged from the nation's pervasive pairing of the figure of the "Negro" and the "Asiatic" in oppositional, overlapping, or analogous relationships within a wide variety of popular, scientific, legal, and cultural discourses. Historicizing these interracial encounters within a national and global context highlights how multiple racial groups shaped the narrative of race and national identity in the early twentieth century, as well as how early twentieth century American literature emerged from that multiracial political context.2013 Honorable Mention, Asian American Studies Association's prize in Literary Studies Part of the American Literatures Initiative SeriesWhy do black characters appear so frequently in Asian American literary works and Asian characters appear in African American literary works in the early twentieth century? Interracial Encounters attempts to answer this rather straightforward literary question, arguing that scenes depicting Black-Asian interactions, relationships, and conflicts capture the constitution of African American and Asian American identities as each group struggled to negotiate the racially exclusionary nature of American identity. In this nuanced study, Julia H. Lee argues that the diversity and ambiguity that characterize these textual moments radically undermine the popular notion that the history of Afro-Asian relations can be reduced to a monolithic, media-friendly narrative, whether of cooperation or antagonism. Drawing on works by Charles Chesnutt, Wu Tingfang, Edith and Winnifred Eaton, Nella Larsen, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Younghill Kang, Interracial Encounters foregrounds how these reciprocal representations emerged from the nation's pervasive pairing of the figure of the "Negro" and the "Asiatic" in oppositional, overlapping, or analogous relationships within a wide variety of popular, scientific, legal, and cultural discourses. Historicizing these interracial encounters within a national and global context highlights how multiple racial groups shaped the narrative of race and national identity in the early twentieth century, as well as how early twentieth century American literature emerged from that multiracial political context.
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Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
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text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 18. Sep 2023)
Series
American Literatures Initiative ; ; 2
Available in Other Form
print 9780814752555
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Table of Contents
Frontmatter
Contents
Acknowledgments
1 / Introduction
2 / The "Negro Problem" and the "Yellow Peril": Early Twentieth-Century America's Views on Blacks and Asians
3 / Estrangement on a Train: Race and Narratives of American Identity in The Marrow of Tradition and America through the Spectacles of an Oriental Diplomat
4 / The Eaton Sisters Go to Jamaica
5 / Quicksand and the Racial Aesthetics of Chinoiserie
6 / Nation, Narration, and the Afro-Asian Encounter in W. E. B. Du Bois's Dark Princess and Younghill Kang's East Goes West
7 / Coda
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
Contents
Acknowledgments
1 / Introduction
2 / The "Negro Problem" and the "Yellow Peril": Early Twentieth-Century America's Views on Blacks and Asians
3 / Estrangement on a Train: Race and Narratives of American Identity in The Marrow of Tradition and America through the Spectacles of an Oriental Diplomat
4 / The Eaton Sisters Go to Jamaica
5 / Quicksand and the Racial Aesthetics of Chinoiserie
6 / Nation, Narration, and the Afro-Asian Encounter in W. E. B. Du Bois's Dark Princess and Younghill Kang's East Goes West
7 / Coda
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author