Tell this silence : Asian American women writers and the politics of speech /

The women's movement focused heavily on the breaking of silence as a means to empowerment and political voice. Although women of color have criticized many of the assumptions underlying the movement, the concept of silence as oppressive has retained tacit approval. Anyone who has worked with teenagers, however, knows that silence is not simple passivity. In this admirable and exceptionally well written and well researched book, Duncan (Portland State Univ.) dissects the notion that silence is quiescence, indicating its special relevance to Asian American women writers. She explores the many different meanings that silence can have in their lives, in cultural and historical contexts and, of course, in their literature. Taking cues from King-Kok Cheung's Articulate Silences: Hisaye Yamamoto, Maxine Hong Kingston, Joy Kogawa (1993), Trinh T. Minh-ha's Woman, Native, Other (1989), and a broad range of contemporary theory and criticism, Duncan argues for a more careful, informed, and nuanced reading of silence. Texts treated include standard offerings like Kingston's Woman Warrior and Kogawa's Obasan, but also expand to the often-overlooked Dictee, by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Comfort Woman, by Nora Okja Keller, and Red Azalea, by Anchee Min. ^BSumming Up: Essential. All Asian American studies collections serving upper-division undergraduates and above. J. Tharp University of Wisconsin Colleges