Trauma, Precarity and War Memories in Asian American Writings

Departing from Jacques Derrida’s appropriations of cinders as a trope of war atrocity aftermath, this book examines writings that deal with war trauma memories in Asian-American communities. Seeing war experiences and their associative diasporas and affects as the core and axis, it considers the multifarious poetics and politics of minority trauma writings, and posits a possible interpretive framework for contemporary Asian-American writings, including those written by Julie Otsuka, Joseph Craig Danner, Monique Truong, Nguyen Viet Thanh, Janice Lowe Shinebourne, and Andre Lamontagne. As these writings contain works regarding Japanese-American, Indo-Chinese Guyanese, Chinese Quebeçois, Vietnamese exiles/refugees, and Vietnam-American experiences, this book presents a broad cross-cultural view on migration and minority issues triggered by wars and precarious conditions, as the diversified experiences examined here epitomize an intricate historical intimacy across four continents: Asia, the Americas, Africa and Europe. Departing from Jacques Derrida's appropriations of cinders as a trope of war atrocity aftermath, this book examines writings that deal with war trauma memories in Asian-American communities. Seeing war experiences and their associative diasporas and affects as the core and axis, it considers the multifarious poetics and politics of minority trauma writings, and posits a possible interpretive framework for contemporary Asian-American writings, including those written by Julie Otsuka, Joseph Craig Danner, Monique Truong, Nguyen Viet Thanh, Janice Lowe Shinebourne, and Andre Lamontagne. As these writings contain works regarding Japanese-American, Indo-Chinese Guyanese, Chinese Quebeçois, Vietnamese exiles/refugees, and Vietnam-American experiences, this book presents a broad cross-cultural view on migration and minority issues triggered by wars and precarious conditions, as the diversified experiences examined here epitomize an intricate historical intimacy across four continents: Asia, the Americas, Africa and Europe. Jade Tsui-yu Lee, a Fulbright alumnus, is a Professor in English Department at National Kaohsiung Normal University (NKNU), Taiwan. She obtained her doctoral degree in Foreign Languages and Literatures from National Taiwan University (NTU) with a dissertation titled "Revisionary Aesthetics/Politics: The Creole Fiction of Jean Rhys and Michelle Cliff." The courses she regularly offers include Survey of American Literature, Literary Criticism, Contemporary English Fiction, and Asian American Literature. Her research interests include the studies of Asian American literature, contemporary British fiction, Caribbean studies, and Sino-Caribbean Diaspora "Departing from Jacques Derrida's appropriations of cinders as a trope of war atrocity aftermath, this book examines writings that deal with war trauma memories in Asian-American communities. Seeing war experiences and their associative diasporas and affects as the core and axis, it considers the multifarious poetics and politics of minority trauma writings, and posits a possible interpretive framework for contemporary Asian-American writings, including those written by Julie Otsuka, Joseph Craig Danner, Monique Truong, Nguyen Viet Thanh, Janice Lowe Shinebourne, and Andre Lamontagne. As these writings contain works regarding Japanese- American, Indo-Chinese Guyanese, Chinese Quebecois, Vietnamese exiles/refugees, and Vietnam-American experiences, this book presents a broad cross-cultural view on migration and minority issues triggered by wars and precarious conditions, as the diversified experiences examined here epitomize an intricate historical intimacy across four continents: Asia, the Americas, Africa and Europe"--Provided by publisher Front Matter ....Pages i-x Introduction (Jade Tsui-yu Lee)....Pages 1-26 Japanese (Post)-Internment Narratives (Jade Tsui-yu Lee)....Pages 27-56 The Vietnam War and Refugee Writings (Jade Tsui-yu Lee)....Pages 57-87 Postmemory and Transoceanic Coolitude (Jade Tsui-yu Lee)....Pages 89-124 Conclusion (Jade Tsui-yu Lee)....Pages 125-127 Back Matter ....Pages 129-141