Book contents
- The Cambridge History ofAsian American Literature
- The Cambridge History of Asian American Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Introduction
- Part I Early Forms of Expression to the Start of the Twentieth Century
- 1 The Origins of Chinese American Autobiography
- 2 Stage Orientalism and Asian American Performance from the Nineteenth into the Twentieth Century
- 3 “I Seek Out Poems Now Incomplete”: Writing from the Angel Island Immigration Station
- 4 The Eaton Sisters and the Figure of the Eurasian
- Part II The Exclusion Era, World War II, and the Immediate Postwar Era
- Part III The Asian American Movement
- Part IV Canons
- Part V Post-1965 and the Twenty-First Century
- Part VI Twenty-First Century: 9/11, Empire, and Other Challenges to Literature
- Bibliography
- Index
2 - Stage Orientalism and Asian American Performance from the Nineteenth into the Twentieth Century
from Part I - Early Forms of Expression to the Start of the Twentieth Century
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2015
Book contents
- The Cambridge History ofAsian American Literature
- The Cambridge History of Asian American Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Introduction
- Part I Early Forms of Expression to the Start of the Twentieth Century
- 1 The Origins of Chinese American Autobiography
- 2 Stage Orientalism and Asian American Performance from the Nineteenth into the Twentieth Century
- 3 “I Seek Out Poems Now Incomplete”: Writing from the Angel Island Immigration Station
- 4 The Eaton Sisters and the Figure of the Eurasian
- Part II The Exclusion Era, World War II, and the Immediate Postwar Era
- Part III The Asian American Movement
- Part IV Canons
- Part V Post-1965 and the Twenty-First Century
- Part VI Twenty-First Century: 9/11, Empire, and Other Challenges to Literature
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This chapter explores the varied modes of orientalism that defined the prevailing theatrical depictions of Asians and Asian Americans in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Asians and Asian Americans history informs Asian American performance, both in its very early incarnations and in the post-1965 rise of contemporary Asian American theaters. The racial transformation that characterized yellowface acting was made possible by the presence of Asian objects, dress, and décor in the American home. In comic musicals, nonsensical renditions of Asian words proved a predictable source of humor. Asians were put on stage for the benefit of white spectators, and their performances were strongly framed by assumptions about their racial and cultural difference. The exhibit of actual Asian people did have the potential to disrupt orientalist fantasies. Multifaceted artistic representations of nineteenth-and early-twentieth-century Asian performers deepen one's knowledge of American theater and illuminate distinctive histories.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge History of Asian American Literature , pp. 55 - 70Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2015