Title Inhuman citizenship : traumatic enjoyment and Asian American literature / Juliana Chang

Published Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, ©2012

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Description 1 online resource (241 pages) Contents Introduction: Inhuman Citizenship -- 1. Melancholic Citizenship: The Living Dead and Fae Myenne Ng's Bone -- 2. Shameful Citizenship: Animal Jouissance and Brian Ascalon Roley's American Son -- 3. Romantic Citizenship: Immigrant-Nation Romance, the Antifetish, and Chang-rae Lee's Native Speaker -- 4. Perverse Citizenship: The Death Drive and Suki Kim's The Interpreter Summary "In Inhuman Citizenship, Juliana Chang claims that literary representations of Asian American domesticity may be understood as symptoms of America's relationship to its national fantasies and to the "jouissance"--A Lacanian term signifying a violent yet euphoric shattering of the self--that both overhangs and underlies those fantasies. In the national imaginary, according to Chang, racial subjects are often perceived as the source of jouissance, which they supposedly embody through their excesses of violence, sexuality, anger, and ecstasy--excesses that threaten to overwhelm the social order. To examine her argument that racism ascribes too much, rather than a lack of, humanity, Chang analyzes domestic accounts by Asian American writers, including Fae Myenne Ng's Bone, Brian Ascalon Roley's American Son, Chang-rae Lee's Native Speaker, and Suki Kim's The Interpreter. Employing careful reading and Lacanian psychoanalysis, Chang finds sites of excess and shock: they are not just narratives of trauma; they produce trauma as well. They render Asian Americans as not only the objects but also the vehicles and agents of inhuman suffering. And, claims Chang, these novels disturb yet strangely exhilarate the reader through characters who are objects of racism and yet inhumanly enjoy their suffering and the suffering of others. Through a detailed investigation of "family business" in works of Asian American life, Chang shows that by identifying with the nation's psychic disturbance, Asian American characters ethically assume responsibility for a national unconscious that is all too often disclaimed."-- Provided by publisher Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 205-215) and index Notes Print version record Subject American literature -- Asian American authors -- History and criticism Asian Americans in literature. American literature -- 20th century -- History and criticism American literature -- 21st century -- History and criticism Identity (Philosophical concept) in literature. Melancholy in literature. LITERARY CRITICISM -- American -- Asian American. SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Ethnic Studies -- Asian American Studies. American literature American literature -- Asian American authors Asian Americans in literature Identity (Philosophical concept) in literature Melancholy in literature Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc. Form Electronic book ISBN 0816682127 9780816682126 9781452947020 1452947023

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