Introduction:

"In many ways writing is the act of saying I, of imposing oneself upon other people, of saying listen to me, see it my way, change your mind. It's an aggressive, even hostile act."

-Joan Didion, "Why I write"

I found this quote in Amy Ling's text, Between Worlds: Women Writers of Chinese Ancestry and decided to requote it. I think it exemplifies an attitude that Chinese American women writers share. What do Chinese American women have to rebel against? They have to rebel against not only the suffocating patriarchal rules created by their Chinese ancestors for women as well as the popular stereotypes imposed upon them by American society. Chinese women continue to be caught between the two worlds that oppress them, and this makes their writing become 'an aggressive, even hostile act.' This is an important aspect in the study of Chinese American literature by women.

The study of Chinese American literature written by women is a new development in the field of post-colonial literature. This is despite the fact that Chinese Americans have inhabited America for more than one hundred and forty years. It is only recently that this literature has gained more recognition on the shelves of libraries and universities. On the internet, one of the most widely used literary resources and information sources, there still exists a large gap when it comes to the inclusion of Chinese American literature by women. The few web pages that do exist consist mainly of general summaries of the most popular novels by this cultural group, sich as Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club, and not even mentioning the important aspects of the novels.

Why has such a large area of literature been neglected by so many critics and scholars? Perhaps it is due to the linguistic and cultural barriers that make reading this literature a bit more challenging?

Therefore, the purpose of this web page is to add to the information on the web concerning Chinese American literature by women. I have chosen to critique Maxine Hong Kingston's novel, because I think it exeplifies the idea of searching for an identity when caught between two worlds. Hopefully the information on this page will help readers gain some interest and understanding into the field of Chinese American Literature written by women so that it can gain it's rightful place in the library and on the internet.

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