ENG 270: Introduction to Literature (Literary History)
Recent Experiments in Asian American Writing
Fall 2023 – Monday, Wednesday, Friday
9:30 a.m. – 10:20 a.m.
Kuykendall Hall 309 — in-person instruction
Instructor: Micah Lau (he/him)
micahlau@hawaii.edu
How have Asian American writers responded to recent life in the United States? What are the connections between the literary, political, and personal histories of Asian Americans? This course is an introduction to Asian American creative and critical writings, with emphasis on works that embrace experimentation, produced within the past twenty years. In our time together, you will develop practices of close reading and academic synthesis through both informal, creative responses and formal, analytical writing assignments, composed in conversation with a wide range of media.
This course has a Writing Intensive (W) Focus designation, meaning you will produce a minimum of 4000 words of revised, polished prose by the end of the semester.
Works under consideration:
– A Tale for the Time Being, by Ruth Ozeki
– A Cruelty Special to Our Species, by Emily Jungmin Yoon
– On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, by Ocean Vuong
– Stories and essays by: Jenny Zhang, Cathy Park Hong, Alexander Chee, Weike Wang, Rachel Khong, Alice Sola Kim, Alexandra Chang, Thi Bui, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Yiyun Li, Amy Tan, Ken Liu, Michelle Zauner, Gish Jen, Anthony Veasna So, Anelise Chen
– Films: Minari (2020), Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)
(This reading list *will* change in the following months — do not purchase any of these texts yet! Contact Micah with any questions.)