Typical American (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Lillian Jen
- First Published: 1991
- Type of Work: Novel
- Genres: Long fiction, Satire
- Subjects: Family or family life, Dogs, Mythology or myths, Politics, Nineteenth century, Brothers and sisters, American Dream, Asia or Asians, Immigration or emigration, Adultery, Multiculturalism, Death or dying, Greed, Business or business people, Corruption, Higher education, Bilingualism, Asian Americans, China or Chinese people, Chinese Americans
- Locales: New York, NY, China
Jen's first novel, Typical American, follows Ralph (born Yfeng) Chang from his boyhood in China to a turbulent but ultimately successful adjustment to life in the United States in the decades following World War II. With Ralph's sister Theresa, and eventually, Theresa's friend Helen (born Hailan; “Sea Blue”), whom Ralph marries, the Changs gradually reconstitute a new family (as in the chapter “The House Holds”) in a country whose social patterns they find strange and confusing, but eventually curiously comfortable, recapitulating a journey familiar to many generations...
[The entire page is 1057 words long]
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