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.
(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.
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.
"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.
...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...)
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.
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.