TRANS-PACIFIC CONNECTIONS: WRITING ASIA IN AMERICAN LITERATURE

Panel Chair:

Rocío G. Davis (Universidad de Navarra)

rgdavis@unav.es

This panel centers on representations of Asia in contemporary American literature. Asia, separated from the US by the world's largest ocean, has long been the object of exoticization in European and American writing. This panel will explore current writing about Asia--in novels, autobiographies, travel writing, for example--in order to see how Asia has been reimagined by American writers, of Asian origin or not, who have experienced or researched life there. Asia is undoubtedly present in the American collective imaginary--due, in part, to the large presence of Asians in the country and American imperialist actions during the colonization of the Philippines and in the Vietnam and Korean wars. An examination of how Asia is articulated in American literature allows us to think about the creative engagements of American writers with the continent which has been the site of its only significant imperialist and colonial expansion. Contributions to the panel may include, but are not limited to, studies on immigrant autobiographies or family histories, novels or autobiographies of "return", narratives of war, travel writing, and historical novels. This panel seeks to create a dialogue about how orientalist notions of Asia and of writing about Asia may have developed and circulated, as well as how American writers, consciously or not, promote or challenge these uncritical paradigms.

Suggested topics:

- Historical   novels about   Asia

- Novels or life writing about the wars in Asia

- Asian American family histories or novels of return

- Travel writing