Asian American Literature and the Intimacies of Fiction

John Okada once wrote that “only in fiction can the hopes and fears and joys and sorrows of people be adequately recorded.” This survey course on Asian American literature and culture evaluates the place of fiction, along with the delicate but also contentious line between fiction and nonfiction, in Asian American studies. Does Asian American fiction exist only to “authentically” capture and represent marginalized experiences? What then makes a certain representation “authentic” or “inauthentic”? We will consider these questions in their historically gendered dimensions as well as associated questions of relation, desire, and collective identity (or lack thereof). Course materials will include literary works such as The Coffin Tree, The Namesake, and Dictée; films such as Mississippi Masala and Better Luck Tomorrow; and television series such as The Assassination of Gianni Versace.