Read more
Even though Asian American literature is enjoying an impressive critical popularity, attention has focused primarily on longer narrative forms such as the novel. And despite the proliferation of a large number of poets of Asian descent in the 20th century, Asian American poetry remains a neglected area of study. Poetry as an elite genre has not reached the level of popularity of the novel or short story, partly due to the difficulties of reading and interpreting poetic texts. The lack of criticism on Asian American poetry speaks to the urgent need for scholarship in this area, since perhaps more than any other genre, poetry most forcefully captures the intense feelings and emotions that Asian Americans have experienced about themselves and their world. This reference book overviews the tremendous cultural contributions of Asian American poets.
Included are alphabetically arranged entries on 48 American poets of Asian descent, most of whom have been active during the latter half of the 20th century. Each entry begins with a short biography, which sometimes includes information drawn from personal interviews. The entries then discuss the poet's major works and themes, including such concerns as family, racism, sexism, identity, language, and politics. A survey of the poet's critical reception follows. In many cases the existing criticism is scant, and the entries offer new readings of neglected works. The entries conclude with bibliographies of primary and secondary texts, and the volume closes with a selected, general bibliography.
List of contents
Introduction by Guiyou Huang
Ai (1947- ) by Nikolas Huot
Meena Alexander (1951- ) by Purvi Shah
Agha Shahid Ali (1949- ) by Purvi Shah
Himani Bannerji (1942- ) by Chandrima Chakraborty
Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge (1947- ) by Xiaoping Yen
Virginia R. Cerenio (1955- ) by Melinda L. De Jesus
G.S. Sharat Chandra (1938-2000) by Keith Lawrence
Diana Chang (1934- ) by Eduardo de Almeida
Marilyn Mei Ling Chin (1955 ) by Zhou Xiaojing
Eric Chock (1950- ) by Rhoda J. Yen
Rienzi Crusz (1925- ) by Di Gan Blackburn
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (1956- ) by Purvi Shah
Jessica Hagedorn (1949- ) by George Uba
Kimiko Hahn (1955- ) by Zhou Xiaojing
Yukihide Maeshima Hartman (1939- ) by Joe Kraus
Sadakichi Hartmann (1867-1944) by Linda Trinh Moser
Garrett Hongo (1951- ) by Roy Osamu Kamada
Lawson Fusao Inada (1938- ) by Gayle K. Sato
Lonny Kaneko (1939- ) by Tamiko Nimura
Myung Mi Kim (1957- ) by James Kyung-Jim Lee
Juliet Sanae Kono (1943- ) by Nikolas Huot
Lydia Kwa (1959- ) by Gaik Cheng Khoo
Alan Chong Lau (1948- ) by Brian Komei Dempster
Carolyn Lau (1946- ) by Rowena Tomaneng Matsunari
Evelyn Lau (1971- ) by Nikolas Huot
Le Thi Diem Thuy (1972- ) by Melinda L. De Jesus
Li-Young Lee (1957- ) by Wenying Xu
Shirley Geok-Lin Lim (1944- ) by Nina Morgan
Fatima Lim-Wilson (1961- ) by Bill Clem
Wing Tek Lum (1946- ) by Lavonne Leong
Pat Matsueda (1952- ) by Lavonne Leong
Janice Mirikitani (1941- ) by Tamiko Nimura
David Mura (1952- ) by Roy Osamu Kamada
Tran Thi Nga (1927- ) by Michael Janette
Yone Noguchi (1875-1947) by Edward Marx
Uma Parameswaran (1938- ) by Di Gan Blackburn
Albert Saijo (1926- ) by Lavonne Leong
Cathy Song (1955- ) by Gayle K. Sato
Toyo Suyemoto (1916- ) by Robert Hayashi
Arthur Sze (1950- ) by Zhou Xiaojing
Jose Garcia Villa (1908-1997) by Roc'o G. Davis
Nanying Stella Wong (1914- ) by Shawn Holliday
Nellie Wong (1934- ) by Ernest J. Smith
Rita Wong (1968- ) by Gaik Cheng Khoo
Merle Woo (1941- ) by Su-ching Huang
Mitsuye (May) Yamada (1923- ) by Di Gan Blackburn
Lois-Ann Yamanak (1961- ) by Peter E. Morgan
John Yau (1950- ) by Zhou Xiaojing
Selected Bibliography
Index
About the author
Guiyou Huang, PhD, is dean of Biscayne College and professor of English at St. Thomas University, Miami, Florida. He is author or editor of over ten books published in the United States, China, and Great Britain, including
The Columbia Guide to Asian American Literature Since 1945 (2006),
Asian American Literary Studies (2005), and
Whitmanism, Imagism, and Modernism in China and America (1997). He is also the author of many articles and reviews in English on, among others, Walt Whitman and Ezra Pound, and has published essays on Mao Zedong, William Butler Yeats, Jean Rhys, Sinclair Lewis, and William Faulkner in Chinese. Dr. Huang is a guest research fellow at the Chinese American Literature Research Center at Beijing Foreign Studies University as well as honorary professor at Yantai University and Qufu Teachers University, Shandong. Most recently he was a visiting scholar at ETS in Princeton, New Jersey.
