Asian American Poets: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook - Hardcover

Huang, Guiyou

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0313318093 ISBN 13: 9780313318092

Publisher: Greenwood, 2002

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author

GUIYOU HUANG is Associate Professor of English and Director of the University Honors Program at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. His previous books include Whitmanism, Imagism, and Modernism in China and America (1997), and Asian American Autobiographers: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook (Greenwood, 2001).

Reviews

The growing popularity of ethnic studies and the study of literature not included in the traditional canon can lead to difficult reference questions, and sources that cover these topics are always welcome. This book from Greenwood offers substantial entries on prominent twentieth-century Asian American poets from the U.S and Canada. The information in the entries is useful, but the basis for inclusion is muddled. A list of a hundred names was compiled. Those not represented from this original list were excluded because no contributor chose to write about them or because the promised contributions were not provided.

Asian American Poets contains 48 entries for writers such as Meena Alexander, Virginia R. Cerenio, and Cathy Song. All entries were written by scholars in the field. The entries range from 2 to more than 20 pages and consist of four sections: biography, major works and themes, critical reception, and bibliography. The bibliographies include works by the entry subject as well as critical works. The volume ends with a selected general bibliography and an index.

Though not an exhaustive source on its subject, the volume covers more poets than Gale's Asian American Literature (1999). It is recommended as a good introduction for academic and large public libraries, which can round out their collections with Greenwood's Asian American Novelists: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook (2000) and Asian American Playwrights: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook (2002). RBB
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Edition details

• Publisher: Greenwood
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0313318093
• ISBN 13: 9780313318092
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 440