Asian American Literature

Catalog description

This course explores the wide range of works written by Asian Americans in the U.S. from the earliest decades of the twentieth century to the present. From the time when Chinese, Japanese, and Filipinos were here but not allowed to be citizens to today, when there are writers from a great many nations (India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, and more), immigrant and native-born authors were expressing themselves and looking for readers. Before and after World War II were self-starters like the great Hisaye Yamamoto, Toshio Mori, John Okada, and Louis Chu. In the twenty-first century, writers such as Jhumpa Lahiri, Ha Jin, Li Yiyun, and Antony Veasna So have continued this rich legacy. The key events for these modern Asian Americans were the key events of modern America: World War II, the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and the 1965 Immigration Act to start with. The novels, short stories, plays, film scripts they have written in this context are the materials for this course.