TILTING THE CONTINENT: SOUTHEAST ASIAN AMERICAN WRITING

Cultural Writing. Asian American Studies. TILTING THE CONTINENT is the first collection to bring to the American literary awareness the poetry, short stories, and personal essays of established, as well as new authors of Southeast Asian descent -- not only recent arrivals, but also second, third, and fourth-generation authors. This anthology reminds us of a Southeast Asian past and present composed of polyethnic, multilingual, and rapidly modernizing societies. But it is also an inherently American phenomenon. Shirley Lim and Cheng Lok Chua present brave and exciting writers whose imaginations have traversed vast distances, both literally and figuratively, and whose moving accounts assure them a lasting place in the American literary landscape -- Ruth Y. Hsu.

This anthology of American writers originally from Southeast Asia (Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaya, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam) includes poems and short stories by 41 "emerging" writers in English. The anthology has been divided into themes such as "Family," "Eating," "The Different Past," and "Returnings." Some of the writers are already well known (editor Lim, Marianne Villanueva), and the others, with one or two exceptions, have already been published. All the writers deal with making a life in the United States while recognizing their differences, adjustments, and traumas. Particularly poignant are poems and stories by Anh Quynh Bui, Aurora Harris, Hanh Hoang, Joseph O. Legaspi, Lim, Ira Sukrungruang, and Villanueva; but all the works are well written and thoughtful. The editors, both professors of literature at California universities, have chosen well. Recommended for public and academic libraries.DKitty Chen Dean, Nassau Community Coll., Garden City, NY
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