Bold words : a century of Asian American writing /

This volume joins a bewildering number of Asian American literature anthologies, most of which have been greeted with a fair amount of debate if not outright attack. Among the better-known volumes are Aiiieeeee!, ed. by Jeffery Paul Chan et al. (CH, Jan'75), and The Forbidden Stitch, ed. by Shirley Geok-Lin Lim, Mayumi Tsutakawa, and Margarita Donnelly (1989). Srikanth and Iwanaga reframe the debate by shifting attention away from the ethnic and/or gender identities of the writers and onto the writing itself by arranging the text by genre. With the material grouped in this way, readers will attend to the contributions writers are making to the literary field rather than to their representation of any particular identity. That said, the editors have also worked to incorporate Asian American work from around the country, not just from the well-known writers in California. In doing so, they present a broader range of international heritages, including a strong showing of Indian, Arab, and Southeast Asian writing, areas heretofore mostly overlooked. They have also attempted to represent the current consciousness of a transnational diaspora. Finally, each section begins with compelling, reflective introductory essays by well-known writers. The text is rich with solid favorites and surprisingly good newcomers. Highly recommended for all collections. J. Tharp University of Wisconsin Colleges