عنوان

Inhuman citizenship :

(Number (ISBN

0816674434 (hardback)

(Number (ISBN

0816674442 (pb)

(Number (ISBN

9780816674435 (hardback)

(Number (ISBN

9780816674442 (pb)

Number

b415896

Title Proper

Inhuman citizenship :

General Material Designation

[Book]

Other Title Information

traumatic enjoyment and Asian American literature /

First Statement of Responsibility

Juliana Chang

Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.

Minneapolis :

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

University of Minnesota Press,

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

c2012

Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item

241 p. ;

Dimensions

23 cm

Text of Note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Text of Note

Machine generated contents note: -- 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 -- Coda -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

8

Text of Note

"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. "--

American literature-- 20th century-- History and criticism

American literature-- 21st century-- History and criticism

American literature-- Asian American authors-- History and criticism

Asian Americans in literature

Identity (Philosophical concept) in literature

Melancholy in literature

Number

Edition

Class number

Book number

Chang, Juliana

Date of Transaction

20121206113444.0

Electronic name

[Book]

Y