Even though Asian American literature is enjoying an impressive
critical popularity, attention has focused primarily on longer
narrative forms such as the novel. And despite the proliferation of
a large number of poets of Asian descent in the 20th century, Asian
American poetry remains a neglected area of study. Poetry as an
elite genre has not reached the level of popularity of the novel or
short story, partly due to the difficulties of reading and
interpreting poetic texts. The lack of criticism on Asian American
poetry speaks to the urgent need for scholarship in this area,
since perhaps more than any other genre, poetry most forcefully
captures the intense feelings and emotions that Asian Americans
have experienced about themselves and their world. This reference
book overviews the tremendous cultural contributions of Asian
American poets.
Included are alphabetically arranged entries on 48 American
poets of Asian descent, most of whom have been active during the
latter half of the 20th century. Each entry begins with a short
biography, which sometimes includes information drawn from personal
interviews. The entries then discuss the poet's major works and
themes, including such concerns as family, racism, sexism,
identity, language, and politics. A survey of the poet's critical
reception follows. In many cases the existing criticism is scant,
and the entries offer new readings of neglected works. The entries
conclude with bibliographies of primary and secondary texts, and
the volume closes with a selected, general bibliography.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!