Jeffrey Paul Chan
In the past couple of decades, literature from cultural groups in the United States such as the African-Americans, Latinos and Native Americans have increasingly become more common. It is only recently that Asian-Americans have become popular writers. With expected population changes, decidedly this literature will become more widespread. According to the U.S. Census, Asian is the fastest growing racial group in the United States. Since 1980, the Asian population has almost tripled. It is expected to increase 213% over the next 50 years. It will be essential for Asian non-fiction and fiction works to be read by students and adults alike to better understand this growing American population.
Writers such as Frank Chin, Jeffery Paul Chan, Lawson Fusao Inada and Shawn Wong, who first co-edited Aiiieeeee!: An Anthology of Chinese-American and Japanese-American Literature in the 1970s, believe that most of the literature and films on Asian-Americans to date are stereotyped and mythical at best and bigoted at worst. Chan, who was hired to create the first university department for Asian-American studies in the U.S., also edited follow-up issues of this book including...
Such works have completely biased the way that Anglo-Americans perceive the Asian cultures. These authors especially paint Asian-American men in a bad light, says Chan. "At worst, the Asian-American (male) is contemptible, because he is womanly, effeminate devoid of all the traditionally masculine qualities of originality, daring, physical courage, and creativity."
Although Chan's approach and comments are controversial, especially by feminists who dislike the sexist approach in some of the works chosen for the Aiiee books, he is well considered someone who has presented a completely different aspect of Asian life in America. His main goal was to introduce, he says, "a native-born Asian-American literary language and sensibility that was not Oriental or Western European, but a native development of American culture."
When reading Big Aiiee, one quickly gets immersed in the often distressing life that Asian-Americans have had since coming to the United States. One of the…
