Conférence en anglais par Nawelle Lechevalier-Bekadar et Maëlle Jeanniard du Dot | Mardi 13 décembre 2022 – 17h00 | Grand Salon de l’Institut franco-américain

This presentation held by Nawelle Lechevalier-Bekadar and Maëlle Jeanniard du Dot (Université Rennes 2) proposes to discuss how writer Charles Yu, in his National Book Award-winning Interior Chinatown, stages Asian-ness and challenges age-old stereotypes into a highly playful and self-reflective novel. Placing Yu’s work within the larger context of Asian-American fiction and the history of Asian communities in the US, we will look at this bold narrative together and its place in the cultural and political landscape of post-Trump America.

Nawelle Lechevalier-Bekadar is an Associate Professor (professeure agrégée) at Université Rennes 2 and holds a Doctorate in American literature.

Maëlle Jeanniard du Dot is an Associate Professor (professeure agrégée) at Université Rennes 2 and a postgraduate researcher in postcolonial literature.

Selective bibliography:

Nguyen, Viet Thanh. Race & Resistance: Literature & Politics in Asian America. Oxford University Press, 2002.

Parikh, Crystal, and Daniel Y. Kim, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Asian American Literature. Cambridge University Press, 2015.

Park Hong, Cathy. Minor Feelings: A Reckoning on Race and the Asian Condition. London: Profile Books Ltd, 2021.

Yu, Charles. Interior Chinatown. New York: Pantheon, 2020.

Yu, Charles, and Aurélie Thiria-Meulemans. Chinatown, intérieur. Aux Forges de Vulcain, 2020.