You put into words something I’ve been thinking about but couldn’t really describe for a while now. Thank you for this wonderful piece!
Adding on to your point on sad Asian stories being overrepresented, I thought about all our Southeast Asian regional history as well - all the stuff on Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge, Vietnam War, etc. Sure, these events did happen and are terrible, but there’s so much more to these countries stories as well.
It is a politically incorrect thought to voice out, I think - even from us in SEA. I still have no idea why the literary houses love these stories and sometimes i wonder if they just like feeling sorry for us and miss it so they read fiction to relive it 😬 It feels naughty to say this out loud lol
(I read the whole thing, I swear, but I am now hungry again, and maybe I should have that for breakfast some time, but I would need a good curry to go with it...)
We have been thinking and writing about this a lot - the books we are given about people of color are usually about traumatic events or emotional suffering. Your point about the experiences of people in Asian countries, vs. immigrant families and people with Asian heritage in the west is so true and not enough people recognize that these can be very different!
Really interesting stuff. When the Sad Asian Stories come from diaspora Asians, I wonder how much of this phenomenon is the stories that publishers select versus the types of stories that diaspora Asians like to tell about themselves.
This is a very interesting perspective! I actually haven't notice this before. When I was young, I was enamored with all the translated Chinese folklores, while later, not being able to read Chinese, the Chinese stories come in the form of TVB, and there we have all sorts of stories, very fun ones too! But now that I think of it, then yes, a lot of books about Asian, especially Asian American ones do bank on the sad story / suffering trope. I wish there are better and more varied translated works out there!
Also now I'm really curious which story is this about the roti canai...
One way I'd phrase my problem with Asian-American literature is that it's fundamentally low-agency: it's about low-agency people complaining about how little agency they have.
Thanks for introducing the new forms of Chinese literature that I wasn't aware of, like webnovels. That's eye-opening!
I think it's fair to make the kind of assessment you did on Asian American literature, and I do see the trend of certain types of books that got published year after year (a lot has to do with what you mentioned here--I read an article that talks about the "woke" editors in Brooklyn, specifically).
There are also Asian Americans who write about other topics than their sufferings and identity.
As for me, I've actually been brewing an autofiction that contains elements of the Cultural Revolution and how that plays out in a family relationship. Would that be just another book in the long list of "Sad Stories of Asian People"? Hmmm, something to ponder.
I think we want to write what we want to write! I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. And I hope I don’t sound cynical saying this but the publishing houses would totally love it lol. I would be interested in reading that article about woke Brooklyn editors. I can’t remember which article I read but it says tat the reasons why sad stories of Asian people and bland Asian American fiction is being published because only these stories are selected by a certain subset of people with a particular ideological bent ...
I wish I could find that article and share it with you. But it seems to have been lost in the sea of newsletters I've read. It is nice when the ideological bent favors my angle, but what I hope is that the story itself is universal enough that captivates a larger audience than those interested in this niche of Asians suffering stories ;-)
You put into words something I’ve been thinking about but couldn’t really describe for a while now. Thank you for this wonderful piece!
Adding on to your point on sad Asian stories being overrepresented, I thought about all our Southeast Asian regional history as well - all the stuff on Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge, Vietnam War, etc. Sure, these events did happen and are terrible, but there’s so much more to these countries stories as well.
It is a politically incorrect thought to voice out, I think - even from us in SEA. I still have no idea why the literary houses love these stories and sometimes i wonder if they just like feeling sorry for us and miss it so they read fiction to relive it 😬 It feels naughty to say this out loud lol
"And even if we do, our parents will slap it out of us." This made me chuckle!
This is such a good point. It's almost like...exotified (is that a word?)
Also, +1 on now wanting roti canai.
Wish I could deliver you one lol
...and now I want roti canai.
(I read the whole thing, I swear, but I am now hungry again, and maybe I should have that for breakfast some time, but I would need a good curry to go with it...)
Roti canai sardin! Make sure you order that when you come over lol
I have never heard of this before! Noted and noted, Liz.
I read an essay by a writer in / from(?) India, complaining about the same thing.
Books about suffering and trauma seem to be the trend, as if there's no.place now for joy, humour, delight in simple things.
If you could find the article, I would love to read it!
Elizabeth, I saved that article for weeks, then one day, I deleted it thinking I shouldn’t.
I can’t find it now!
We have been thinking and writing about this a lot - the books we are given about people of color are usually about traumatic events or emotional suffering. Your point about the experiences of people in Asian countries, vs. immigrant families and people with Asian heritage in the west is so true and not enough people recognize that these can be very different!
Really interesting stuff. When the Sad Asian Stories come from diaspora Asians, I wonder how much of this phenomenon is the stories that publishers select versus the types of stories that diaspora Asians like to tell about themselves.
This is a very interesting perspective! I actually haven't notice this before. When I was young, I was enamored with all the translated Chinese folklores, while later, not being able to read Chinese, the Chinese stories come in the form of TVB, and there we have all sorts of stories, very fun ones too! But now that I think of it, then yes, a lot of books about Asian, especially Asian American ones do bank on the sad story / suffering trope. I wish there are better and more varied translated works out there!
Also now I'm really curious which story is this about the roti canai...
Thanks for the shoutout!
One way I'd phrase my problem with Asian-American literature is that it's fundamentally low-agency: it's about low-agency people complaining about how little agency they have.
It's demoralizing and boring.
Thanks for introducing the new forms of Chinese literature that I wasn't aware of, like webnovels. That's eye-opening!
I think it's fair to make the kind of assessment you did on Asian American literature, and I do see the trend of certain types of books that got published year after year (a lot has to do with what you mentioned here--I read an article that talks about the "woke" editors in Brooklyn, specifically).
There are also Asian Americans who write about other topics than their sufferings and identity.
As for me, I've actually been brewing an autofiction that contains elements of the Cultural Revolution and how that plays out in a family relationship. Would that be just another book in the long list of "Sad Stories of Asian People"? Hmmm, something to ponder.
I think we want to write what we want to write! I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. And I hope I don’t sound cynical saying this but the publishing houses would totally love it lol. I would be interested in reading that article about woke Brooklyn editors. I can’t remember which article I read but it says tat the reasons why sad stories of Asian people and bland Asian American fiction is being published because only these stories are selected by a certain subset of people with a particular ideological bent ...
I wish I could find that article and share it with you. But it seems to have been lost in the sea of newsletters I've read. It is nice when the ideological bent favors my angle, but what I hope is that the story itself is universal enough that captivates a larger audience than those interested in this niche of Asians suffering stories ;-)
P.S. The "Go Fly Kite" expression is hilarious!