SEPT 12, 2024 | ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT | By Greta Patterson
On Sept. 6, Colorado College hosted acclaimed author Rebecca F. Kuang for a discussion and reading from her novel “Yellowface.” This event was sponsored by “Humanities for Our Times: From Epistemologies and Methodologies to Liberatory Creative Practice and Social Justice.”
R.F. Kuang is a Chinese American novelist who writes predominantly fiction and fantasy novels. Kuang is currently working on her PhD at Yale University and holds an undergraduate in international economics with a minor in Asian Studies from Georgetown University and graduate degrees from Magdalene College, University of Cambridge and Oxford University. Kuang has received numerous awards, including the 2022 Blackwell’s Fiction Book of the Year, the 2022 Nebula Award for Best Novel, the Compton Crook Award, the Crawford Award and the Astounding Award for Best New Writer.
Her first novel “The Poppy War,” a Chinese military fantasy novel that follows orphan Rin as she is thrust into war, was published in 2018 and went on to become a trilogy. Based on the Second Sino-Japanese War, Kuang has demonstrated a strong interest in writing historical fantasy. Her second novel, a speculative fiction work titled “Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution” is set in 1830s England and has a complex magic system revolving around translation and language. “Babel” debuted in the first spot on The New York Times bestseller list.
Her novel of focus for the night, “Yellowface,” was published in 2023 and quickly gained attention, debuting at the fifth spot on The New York Times hardcover fiction bestseller list. It was also featured in the eighth spot on the Los Angeles Times hardcover fiction bestseller list.
“Yellowface” follows June Hayward, a white author who has not found success in her writing career and is struggling to make a name for herself. After being present for the death of her occasional friend and former classmate Athena Liu, a Chinese American author who had been wildly successful, Hayward finds herself plagiarizing a manuscript off of Liu’s desk. After some small edits, Hayward publishes the novel as her own under the pseudonym Juniper Song.
Throughout the book, Hayward is the center of multiple controversies and internet cancellations as she gets accused of plagiarizing and cultural appropriation. Hayward feels the ghost of Liu haunting her for publishing the manuscript as her own. Written in first person from Hayward’s perspective, readers get a look into her deeply unsavory outlook on life and privileged understanding of the world.
After being introduced by English Professor Aline Lo, Kuang recalled a hot summer she spent on the CC campus doing debate camp, living out of one of the dorms and attempting to keep the space cool by leaving the mini fridge door open.
Much of Kuang’s lecture centered around the complexity of representation in Asian American literature. Growing up, Kuang found a sanctuary and excitement for Chinese culture in Amy Tan’s “Joy Luck Club” as it gave her a world that did not seem so different from her own. The main character fought with her mother, grappled with intergenerational representation, looked for meaning and struggled with depression. As Kuang grew up, however, she began to feel that “Joy Luck Club” represented a pigeon-holing standard, and Kuang did not want to be cliche.
Kuang described representation as a “double-edged sword,” a struggle between the expectations of being a statement for all Asian Americans and the danger of not being representational enough. When watching the hit movie “Crazy Rich Asians” for the first time, Kuang shared that she burst into tears during the first scene. While it can be said that the film represented a small diaspora, Kuang still found that she saw something of herself in that scene. Kuang emphasized the importance of valuing the tiny overlaps of many different lives rather than attempting to represent an entire group with one person. While still remaining aware of broad generalizations, Kuang advocates for storytelling as a means to celebrate uniqueness.
During the question and answer portion of the evening, Kuang shared that it took her only three months to write “Yellowface” because she believed her subconscious had been chewing on it for a long time; essentially, it came easily once she put pen to paper. One question in particular that Kuang had not heard before, related to the retribution scene at the end of the novel and how people respond to narratives around racial injury or theft, Kuang responded that she wanted to drive home the point that people of color can be racial grifters too, and that the scene was not about retribution in her mind, but rather what it takes to get ahead in the publishing industry.
When asked if she thought writing a good story plot automatically brings good representation, Kuang responded humorously that she doesn’t like going into a writing session thinking “today I’m going to represent Asians fantastically,” but rather thinks about craft and depth of character, as well as how characters react to their environment.
In responding to a question about how to navigate what the audience expects from her, Kuang stated that publishing executives constantly undermine readers and what they will want, pointing out that the trope of the “white Southern ladies book club” is often used as the standard many executives consider when deciding if a book will be popular or not. Kuang felt that this audience is typically the one that is most curious about themselves and hungry to learn more, thereby making this assumption dismissive.
Following the lecture, attendees lined up to get their copies of “Yellowface” or “Babel” signed by Kuang. She greeted each visitor with a smile and small talk, signing the first page of every copy handed to her. Kuang’s visit to CC was a thought-provoking exploration of her work and representation in literature. As she illuminated the complexities of storytelling through her own experiences with Asian American literature, Kuang left a lasting impression that reminds us all of the power of literature in reflecting diverse realities and challenging expectations.