Reading Donald Duk: A Conversation with Frank Chin
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2014-01-15
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University of Hawaii at Manoa
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When most readers, particularly those interested in Asian American fiction, hear the name "Frank Chin", one can usually expect a reaction. Admittedly, it was his notoriety that drew me toward his work as I was meandering through modem Asian American fiction. Frank Chin,the big sexist monster, the crazy, argumentative critic who believed that everyone was staging an elaborate conspiracy against him and his fellow neglected Asian American writers. But it made me wonder-what about Chin's fiction? When you forget Chin's politics and apparent lack of social tact, is there anything left? Yes, there certainly is. Donald Duk is a commendable work of fiction that deserves a closer look. And that's where this thesis comes in. It's impossible to do a close reading of any of Chin's work without including the larger stickier issues that often overshadow his talent-namely gender politics and racial relations. Because Chin's fiction is largely aimed at portraying the problems of Chinese American identity-more specifically male Chinese American identity-gender and race issues are woven into the fiction. One could easily do a thesis on Chin's race theory or sexual politics-and I'm sure many have. But that's not what I'm trying to do. So please forgive me if I occasionally seem to skim over serious, controversial problems such as sexism and racism. It's not my intention to be whimsical or flippant about very serious issues. But it is also not my intention to let said issues overpower the validity of the entire close reading. In this thesis, I offer you a bit of Frank Chin's literary background, and through the analysis of Donald Duk, a peek into Chin's repeated themes and writing strategies. Hopefully, you'll find a little something about Frank Chin you didn't know.
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74 pages
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