Weeks 9–11: Maxine Hong Kingston, "The Woman Warrior" (1976)

Much like The Bluest Eye, our next book, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston is emblematic of a very positive growing cultural pluralism in US literary circles during the 1970s (in the aftermath of the civil rights movements of the 1960s). In the more than forty years since its publication, it's become both an iconic, foundational text in Asian American literature, while also courting controversy.

Reviewing the book for The New York Times in 1976, John Leonard hailed The Woman Warrior as "one of the best [books] I've read in years" and described it as "fierce intelligence, all sinew, prowling among the emotions." Playing off of the book's subtitle, he notes that "there are two sets of ghosts. One set is Chinese legends, traditions, folklore, and always the unwanted girl‐child. The other set is Western, American, barbarian, the machine‐myths of the Occident. Somewhere in between, like the poet Ts'ai Yen, she is a hostage. And it isn't clear whether there is a place for her to return to, with her songs 'from the savage lands.'" He continues, "The Warrior Woman trafficks back and forth between sets of ghosts, re‐imagining the past with such dark beauty, such precision and anger and sadness, that you feel you have saddled the Tao dragon and see all through the fiery eye of God. Then, suddenly, you are dumped into the mundane, into scenes so carefully observed, so balanced on a knife‐edge of hope and humiliation, that you don't know whether to laugh or cry." That's fine praise from a trusted cultural institution, but not all readers have always been as pleased with Kingston.

Specifically, from within the field of Asian American literary studies, there have been critiques of the book in regards to its representation of ethnic identity, with some accusing Kingston of playing to stereotypes and fictionalizing both Chinese culture and folklore. We've already discussed the burden placed upon minority authors to serve as examples to mainstream audiences and that will influence our approach to this book as well. Another related accusation that's dogged the book since its publication is the question of its genre and inherent truth. As Jenessa Job observes, "the book itself is labeled 'Fiction/Literature' on the back cover, while the front cover proclaims the novel's acquisition of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction." Particularly in light of the controversy surrounding the liberties taken by memoirists like James Frey and JT LeRoy in the last decade, The Woman Warrior is seen in a somewhat different light, less an autobiographical document and more a series of fictions that draws upon real-life facts but distorts them. I offer all this up not to ruin your experience of the book, but simply to put it in context.

Here's our schedule for our time with Kingston:

• Thurs. October 24: "No Name Woman" and "White Tigers"
• Tues. October 29: "Shaman"
• Thurs. October 31: "At the Western Palace"
• Tues. November 5: "Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe"

Here are some supplemental readings:

• "In Defiance of Two Worlds," John Leonard's New York Times review of the book [link]
• D.J. Enright reviews the book for The London Review of Books [link]
• Jess Row writes about "The Woman Warrior at Thirty" for Slate [link]
• Kirkus' starred review of the book [link]