The Accidental Asian (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Eric Liu
- First Published: 1998
- Type of Work: Essays
- Time of Work: 1914-1997
- Setting: The East Coast of the United States, mainland China, and Taiwan
- Principal Characters: Eric Liu, Chao “Baba” Liu, Julia Liu, Carroll Haymon, Min-yu “Po-Po” Tu, Trinh Duong, Ava and Cordell Haymon, Andrea Liu
- Genres: Nonfiction, Essays
- Subjects: Culture, Race, Self, Ethnic relations, Immigration or emigration, Intermarriage, Asian Americans, China or Chinese people
- Locales: East (U.S.), China, Taiwan
Despite the fact that its subject matter of assimilation and identity relates to the concerns of many people, Eric Liu’s The Accidental Asian is at its heart a deeply personal book. Perhaps fittingly for an author who, in closing, expresses his desire that race may one day become an irrelevant category for all members of American society, the focus of Liu’s interrelated essays is never very far from the personal experience of their narrator.
A goal-driven, well-assimilated, successful young second- generation Chinese American, Eric Liu nevertheless questions the degree...
[The entire page is 2030 words long]
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