THETAOOFSisanengagingstudyofAmericanracializationofChineseandAsians,AsianAmericanwriting,andcontemporaryChineseculturalproduction,stretchingfromthenineteenthcenturytothepresent.Sheng-meiMaexaminestheworkofnineteenth-century“Sinophobic”Americanwriters,suchasBretHarte,JackLondon,andFrankNorris,andtwentieth-century“Sinophiliac”authors,suchasJohnSteinbeckandPhilipK.Dick,aswellasthemoviesCrazyRichAsiansandDisney’sMulanandahostofcontemporaryChineseauthors,toilluminatehowculturalstereotypeshaveswungfromfearmongeringtoanovercompensatingexultationofeverythingAsian.WithinthisframeworkMaemploystheTaoistprincipleofyinandyangtoilluminatehowrolesoftheonce-dominantAmericanhegemony—theyang—andtheonce-decliningAsiancivilization—theyin—arenow,inthetwenty-firstcentury,turnedupsidedownasChinarisestowriteitssideofthestory,particularlythroughthesoftpoweroftelevisionandmediastreamedworldwide.
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“Sheng-meiMaguidesthereaderonajourneytotheWest’sEastthroughaprovocativereadingoftheunendingcycleofdesire,fear,andloathingthatconstituteAmerica’sOrientalistfantasies.Ma’sdeftdeploymentofyin–yangdialecticsisincisiveandinsightfulandimportantforunderstandingthecurrentmoment.”
---RobertG.Lee,authorofOrientals:AsianAmericansinPopularCulture
“TheTaoofSisapoignantlycraftedandeloquentlyarguedmonographonthesourcesandevolutionofAmericanOrientalismanditsinfluenceonAnglo-America’sChinadiscourseaswellasitsimpactonChinese/Asiansoverthepast150years.SheddinglightonacriticallyimportantaspectoftheongoingdiscourseintheAsianAmericanexperience,thisthought-provokingbookrepresentsaunique,constructive,andtimelycontributiontothefieldsofAsianAmericanstudies,Asianstudies,transculturalandtransnationalstudies,andliterarycriticism.”
---Xao-huangYin,authorofChineseAmericanLiteraturesincethe1850s
“Employingwordplay,alliteration,metaphors,andothergrammaticaldevices,Sheng-meiMacleverlyfashionstheTaoofSasaphilosophy,basedlargelyonthenineteenthletterofthealphabet,emphasizingSinophobia,Sinophilia,andthedisemboweled‘s’inChinese(Chinee).TheTaoofSprovidesanabundanceofcarefullyresearched,criticallyanalyzed,andinterestinglywrittenmaterial
ontherepresentationofthe‘Chinee’during150yearsofAmericanliteratureandfilm.Superb.”
---JohnA.Lent,professoremeritus,TempleUniversity
AMERICA LEE MA LENT CHINESE LITERATURE FILM SUPERB TAO
