Since 2017, CAALS has collaborated with the Smithsonian Asian American Literature Festival and the Massachusetts Review to present a series of “Literary Addresses,” public-facing talks on the state of the field by prominent writers and scholars. At the 2017 and 2019 Lit Fests, we had the privilege of convening many of the wonderful Literary Address writers with invited respondents.

We are pleased to share “Asian American Literature: The State of the Art,” an online portfolio that includes several newly published Literary Address Responses along with the previously published Addresses with which they engage.  Among these colloquies on the Massachusetts Review website, you’ll find writing by many CAALS members.

We hope these short, lively essays will move and inspire you, and we think they will also provide great discussion pieces for the classroom. Read the collection here.

Contents

Introduction

Mai-Linh K. Hong, “Asian American Literature: The State of the Art“

Literary Addresses and Responses

Patricia P. Chu, Literary Response to Min Hyoung Song
Min Hyoung Song, Literary Address: “Asian American Literature in the Twenty-First Century”

Mai-Linh K. Hong, Literary Response to Cathy Schlund-Vials
Cathy Schlund-Vials, Literary Address: “Deconstructing Madmen: Mapping the Relevance of Asian American Literature”

Christine Kitano, Literary Response to Franny Choi
Franny Choi, Literary Address: “(B)Aiiieeeee!: The Future is Femme and Queer”

Aline Lo, Literary Response to Bryan Thao Worra
Bryan Thao Worra, Literary Address: “‘So are you Chinese or Japanese?'”

Timothy Yu, Literary Response to Kazim Ali
Kazim Ali, Literary Address: “The End of Canon”

Many thanks to the contributors, past CAALS co-chair Caroline Kyungah Hong, Jim Hicks (editor of MR), and Lawrence-Minh Bùi Davis (Smithsonian) for all their work on this series. More Literary Addresses appear on the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center website.