The Asiatics (Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Frederic Prokosch
- First Published: 1935
- Type of Plot: Picaresque romance
- Time of Work: The 1920’s
- Setting: Asia, from Beirut to Hong Kong
- Principal Characters: The narrator, Antoine Samazeuilh, Feodor Krusnayaskov, Hans de Hahn, Dr. Ainger
- Genres: Long fiction, Picaresque fiction
- Subjects: Traveling or travelers, Love or romance, Sex or sexuality, 1920’s, Asia or Asians, Adventure, Lebanon or Lebanese people
- Locales: Asia, Beirut, Lebanon, Hong Kong
The Novel
The Asiatics has no plot. It is a tale of an aimless vagabondage from Beirut to Hong Kong, a pilgrimage to experience made by—and told by—a nameless young American. The narrator-hero is not a rogue, but in most other respects The Asiatics is a picaresque romance, studded with incident and peopled by faithless opportunists and outright scoundrels. Nothing is explained of the hero’s background, and the inference to be made is that he is making this long trip simply because that is what young men do. He has but little money most of the way, and he is...
[The entire page is 2408 words long]
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