Introduction to Chinese American Literature, 5 cr

The course first examines racial stereotypes and Orientalist representations of the Chinese and Chinese Americans in the United States; these stereotypes of the Chinese range from the figure of the Yellow Peril to the Dragon Lady and beyond. Second, the course explores texts by Chinese American writers and how these writers have adopted diverse genres and narrative strategies in their discussion of racial stereotypes, assimilation, transnationalism, ethnicity, gender and sexual identity. The texts analysed include stories by Sui Sin Far, Frank Chin, Maxine Hong Kingston, David Wong Louie, Ted Chiang and Qiu Xiaolong as well as early Angel Island poems by Chinese immigrants. The genres examined range from phrase books to short stories and novels, and from speculative fiction to detective fiction.