Sometime near the start of the 1990s, the future became a place of national decline. The United States had entered a period of great anxiety fueled by the shrinking of the white middle class, the increasingly visible misery of poor urban blacks, and the mass immigration of nonwhites. Perhaps more than any other event marking the passage through these dark years, the 1992 Los Angeles riots have sparked imaginative and critical works reacting to this profound pessimism. Focusing on a wide range of these creative works, Min Hyoung Song shows how the L.A. riots have become a cultural-literary event—an important reference and resource for imagining the social problems plaguing the United States and its possible futures.

Song considers works that address the riots and often the traumatic place of the Korean American community within them: the independent documentary Sa-I-Gu (Korean for April 29, the date the riots began), Chang-rae Lee’s novel Native Speaker, the commercial film Strange Days, and the experimental drama of Anna Deavere Smith, among many others. He describes how cultural producers have used the riots to examine the narrative of national decline, manipulating language and visual elements, borrowing and refashioning familiar tropes, and, perhaps most significantly, repeatedly turning to metaphors of bodily suffering to convey a sense of an unraveling social fabric. Song argues that these aesthetic experiments offer ways of revisiting the traumas of the past in order to imagine more survivable futures.

About the Author

Min Hyoung Song is Associate Professor of English at Boston College. He is a coeditor of Asian American Studies: A Reader.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Store Description

In business since 2003, we are committed to customer satisfaction.

Visit Seller's Storefront

Seller's business information

PLUMCIRCLE, LLC
4633 Buttermilk Hollow Road, West Mifflin, PA, 15122, U.S.A.

Sale & Shipping Terms

Terms of Sale

Your satisfaction is guaranteed. If you are unsatisfied for any reason with your purchase, please contact us using the "Ask the bookseller a question" link. Thank you.

Shipping Terms

Your order will leave our facility within two business days via the method you select. Expect domestic orders within 7 - 14 business days of order. Expect international orders within 3 - 6 weeks of order.

Shipping rates within U.S.A.

Shipping rates within U.S.A.
Order quantity	5 to 14 business days	3 to 6 business days
First item	US$ 4.99	US$ 10.99

Delivery times are set by sellers and vary by carrier and location. Orders passing through Customs may face delays and buyers are responsible for any associated duties or fees. Sellers may contact you regarding additional charges to cover any increased costs to ship your items.