X literary studies / poetics / asian american studies i Xiaojing Zhou the ethics and poetics of xiaojing zhou, associate professor a The Ethics and Poetics of Alterity in o j of English and director of ethnic studies in alterity in Asian American Poetry Asian American Poetry g at University of the Pacific, is the author of Z by xiaojing zhou h Elizabeth Bishop: Rebel “in Shades and Shadows” o u Poetry by Asian American writers has had a and coeditor of Form and Transformation in significant impact on the landscape of contempo- t Asian American Literature. h rary American poetry, and a book-length critical e e treatment of Asian American poetry is long over- t due. In this groundbreaking book, Xiaojing Zhou Jacket art by Li Lin Lee, Corban Ephphatha, 1991–1992, In this groundbreaking book, “The Ethics and Poetics of Alterity is an hics dtreamnsofnosrtmra tthese hcoownv menatnioyn Aals “iaIn” oAf mlyerircic paone ptroye—ts the Art Institute of Chicago. Reproduced by permission Xiaojing Zhou demonstrates how exploration of Asian American poetry and a based on the traditional Western concept of the of the artist. many Asian American poets poetics that sees both as vehicles for new con- an self and the Cartesian “I”—to enact a more ethical ceptualizations of Asian American otherness ld transform the conventional “I” that exceed the dichotomies of the past and te p relationship between the “I” and its others. r io of lyric poetry—based on the refuse to settle comfortably in alterity, but tye Drawing on Emmanuel Levinas’s idea of the ethics traditional Western concept of rather present us with both epistemological itic of alterity—which argues that an ethical relation and ethical challenges at once.” ns the self and the Cartesian “I”—to —David Palumbo Liu, author of Asian/ A o to the other is one that acknowledges the irreduc- ibility of otherness—Zhou offers a reconceptual- f enact a more ethical relationship American: Historical Crossings of a Racial ization of both self and other. Taking difference as s Frontier between the “I” and its others. ia a source of creativity and turning it into a form of n resistance and a critical intervention, Asian Ameri- “As the first full-length study of Asian can poets engage with broader issues than the American poetry to be published, The Ethics A merely poetic. They confront social injustice Of Related Interest and Poetics of Alterity in Asian American Poetry tell this silence: pays careful attention to a group of writers m against the other and call critical attention to a concept of otherness which differs fundamentally Asian American Women Writers that have been long neglected in both Asian e r from that underlying racism, sexism, and colonial- and the Politics of Speech American studies and literary studies. With her i c ism. By locating the ethical and political questions By Patti Duncan attention to questions of language and form, a of otherness in language, discourse, aesthetics, and to logics of racial minoritization in the United n isbn 0-87745-856-1 cloth everyday encounters, Asian American poets help States, and to the otherness of poetry itself, P advance critical studies in race, gender, and popular Xiaojing Zhou forces us to broaden and rethink o culture as well as in poetry. University of Iowa Press not only our conceptions of Asian American e t literature and American poetry but the very r The Ethics and Poetics of Alterity is not limited, Iowa City, Iowa 52242 categories of the ‘literary’ and ‘poetic’ them- y however, to literary studies: it is an invaluable selves.”—Dorothy Wang, Northwestern response to the questions raised by increasingly University globalized encounters across many kinds of boundaries. iowa the ethics & poetics of alterity in sian merican oetr A A P y The Ethics &Poetics sian of Alterity iAn merican A oetr P y iaojin ou X g Zh university of iowa press iowa city University of Iowa Press, Iowa City 52242 Copyright © 2006 by the University of Iowa Press http://www.uiowa.edu/uiowapress All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Design by Richard Hendel No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher. All reasonable steps have been taken to contact copyright holders of material used in this book. The publisher would be pleased to make suitable arrangements with any whom it has not been pos- sible to reach. A different version of chapter 1 appeared in Textual Ethos Studies (New York and Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2005), edited by Anna Fahraeus and AnnKatrin Jonsson. A different version of chapter 6 appeared in College Literature31.1 (Winter 2004). Printed on acid-free paper Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Zhou, Xiaojing, 1952– . The ethics and poetics of alterity in Asian American poetry / by Xiaojing Zhou. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0-87745-982-7 (cloth) 1. American poetry—Asian American authors—History and criticism. 2. Difference (Psychology) in literature. 3. Asian Americans—Intellectual life. 4. Asian Americans in literature. 5. Ethics in literature. I. Title. ps153.a84z98 2006 2005053852 (cid:2) 811.009353—dc22 c 06 07 08 09 10 5 4 3 2 1 To Michael and Nathan ontents C Acknowledgments ix Abbreviations xi Introduction 1 1 Li-Young Lee Your Otherness Is Perfect as My Death 25 2 Marilyn Chin She Walks into Exile Vowing No Return 66 3 David Mura Where Am I, the Missing Third? 102 4 Kimiko Hahn The Passion of Leaving Home 133 5 Timothy Liu Each of Us Harboring What the Other Lacked 167 6 John Yau The I of Changes, the Destroying I, the Its of the I 196 7 Myung Mi Kim Speak and It Is Sound in Time 229 Conclusion 275 Notes 281 Bibliography 289 Index 303 Acknowledgments The author gratefully acknowledges permissions granted by the following authors and publishers. Marilyn Chin, Dwarf Bamboo(Greenfield, NY: Greenfield Review Press, 1987), copyright © by Marilyn Chin, used by permission of Marilyn Chin. The Phoenix Gone, The Terrace Empty (Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 1994), copyright © by Marilyn Chin, used by per- mission of Milkweed Editions. “Blue on Yellow” from Rhapsody in Plain Yellow(New York: Norton, 2002), copyright © 2002 by Marilyn Chin, used by permission of Marilyn Chin and W. W. Norton and Company, Inc. Kimiko Hahn, Air Pocket (Brooklyn: Hanging Loose Press, 1989), copyright 1989 by Kimiko Hahn, used by permission of Kimiko Hahn. Earshot (Brooklyn: Hanging Loose Press, 1992), copyright © by Kimiko Hahn, used by permission of Kimiko Hahn. The Un- bearable Heart (New York: Kaya Production, 1995), copyright © by Kimiko Hahn, used by permission of Kimiko Hahn. Mosquito and Ant: Poems(New York: Norton, 1999), copyright © by Kimiko Hahn, used by permission of Kimiko Hahn and W. W. Norton and Com- pany, Inc. Myung Mi Kim, Under Flag (Berkeley: Kelsey Street Press, 1991), copyright © by Myung Mi Kim, used by permission of Myung Mi Kim and Kelsey Street Press. The Bounty (Minneapolis: Chax Press, 1996), copyright © by Myung Mi Kim, used by permission of Myung Mi Kim and Chax Press. Dura (Los Angeles: Sun and Moon Press, 1998), copyright © by Myung Mi Kim, used by permission of Myung Mi Kim. Commons (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002), copyright by Myung Mi Kim, used by permission of Myung Mi Kim and the University of California Press. Li-Young Lee, Rose (Brockport, NY: BOA Editions, 1986), copy- right © by Li-Young Lee, used by permission of Li-Young Lee and BOA Editions.The City in Which I Love You(Brockport, NY: BOA Edi-