The Incorporation of Eric Chung - Hardcover

Lo, Steven C.

9780945575184: The Incorporation of Eric Chung

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0945575181 ISBN 13: 9780945575184

Publisher: Algonquin Books, 1989

Eric Chung, a Chinese student studying in Texas, finds his experience broadened by a number of jobs and rapid climb up the corporate ladder

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About the Author:

Similar to the narrator of his 1989 novel, Steven C. Lo moved to Lubbock, Texas, from his native Taiwan to pursue graduate studies in business and eventu�ally founded a consulting firm specializing in joint-ventures with China. Lo obtained a B.B.A. from the National University of Taiwan ( 1972), subsequently pursued graduate studies at Texas Technological University, and completed his M.S. at Northwestern University in 1974. Since 1979 Lo has represented major U.S. and Asian companies in negotiating, developing, executing, and managing a wide range of major business projects in China. The sardonic edge to his novel's fictional world appears in contrast with Lo's actual business achievements. His impressive track record in Sino-American business relations has made him a sought-after lecturer on the subject. He has served as visiting professor in a Shanghai university and is active in numerous Chinese and American business associations. Lo's interest in writing extends back to grade school and university years in Taiwan. He won prizes for his Chinese writing exercises and served as editor of class journals in the university. This early interest, coupled with a lack of confidence in English, prompted him to take up a creative writing course offered by a community college in Texas. Lo developed his skills by writing stories and poems in his spare time. Although The Incorporation of Eric Chung is his only major publication to date, Lo remains active as a writer and is a member of the Authors' Guild. Lo's wife is a Texas Tech graduate and, like him, an immigrant from Taiwan. They live in Texas with their three sons.

From Publishers Weekly:

In his engaginging debut, Lo adroitly interweaves two themes. The first examines what it's like to emigrate to the U.S. when one is young, Taiwanese and not very fluent in English. The second sharply satirizes life in the modern corporation, as seen from the bottom and middle rungs of the job ladder. In somewhat stilted prose (perhaps appropriate for a narrator to whom English is a second language), Eric Chung relates the circumstances of his astonishing success/failure in the business world. Having come to Texas Tech University to study computer science, Eric gets a job as a programmer/analyst for Taltex Electronics. His career languishes until he's picked up by Roger Holton, a fast-talking PR type who has conned Malcolm Coldwell, a nearly certifiable lunatic with tons of money, into financing a harebrained scheme to market in the U.S. small electronic products made in the People's Republic of China. The project founders after losing millions of dollars and derailing the careers of most of the company's employees. Eric ends up as corporation president, with no troops to lead except for his secretary. The problem for both the new immigrant and the corporate employee is the same one, Lo implies: how to establish and maintain your dignity in an alien and impersonal environment.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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