Comments on: Asian Chick Lit By Asians Who Would Rather Not Call Attention to the Fact That They’re Asians

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 20:29:08 +0000

I know I’m a little late in this. I’m an Asian Canadian (specifically CBC–Canadian Born Chinese) who is banana/YASP (ok, not sure if I qualify as a YASP seeing that I’m Catholic, but I went to a Protestant prep school for years). In my debut novel, Aspirations, one of the sidekicks is Asian, and unlike your typical rebellious Asian 20-something she DOES NOT want to join a rock band. Guess what she wants to do? She wants to be a “proper young lady” Yes! As in blue-blooded proper. Am I the first Asian writer to write about this?? Do you think it’s a good idea??

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 20:29:00 +0000

By: burnt bread

burnt bread — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 10:28:23 +0000

I see your point entirely but at the same time I understand the writers’ desire not to be pigeon-holed as ‘Asian writers’, and to over-ride the common expectation that if you are Asian, then you must write books about being Asian.

By: burnt bread

burnt bread — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 10:28:00 +0000

By: rksingh

rksingh — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 10:42:29 +0000

Though I do not belong to the ‘chickliterati’ class of writers, I would like to invite them to visit my blogs:
http://profrksingh.blogspot.com
http://rksinghpoet.blogspot.com
http://rksingh.blogspot.com
and share their comments on my poetry.
Thanks
R K Singh

By: rksingh

rksingh — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 10:42:00 +0000

By: Christina

Christina — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 06:32:45 +0000

It’s sad that Americans think it’s risky to market Asians because they don’t think mainstream Americans and the general public wouldn’t be able to relate to a yellow face. The argument is weak. Then how do white suburban teenagers relate to hip hop or rap music? They seem to relate just fine. Heck, I never watched Asian movies until I was in my twenties and I was able to relate to White movies just fine for the first twenty years of my life. Why couldn’t the reverse be true? Why wouldn’t White/(insert ethnicity here) be able to relate to Asians? It’s seriously time to stop ignoring our ethnicity in order to be more “relatable” or marketable. I never saw Tupac writing lyrics about White people to reach a broader audience…he did what he did…and look how many people of all colors found his music prolific? Why did Julie Dam have to “hide” her ethnicity in her book? If you’re a writer, don’t compromise yourself for the “benefit” of others. Create your art the way you like and see fit. If all of us minorities had the attitude that Julie Dam had about creating indecernable ethnic characters, we as Americans will always view “White” as the standard, the norm…the ONLY, when in actuality, America is the most diverse country in the world. We need to REFLECT that. I went to live overseas in Asia, and none of them could grasp the idea that I was AMERICAN–because they were accustomed and brainwashed by the American movies and media that our country is either black or white.

By: Christina

Christina — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 06:32:00 +0000