1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910788371703321

Autore

Zheng Da <1953->

Titolo

Chiang Yee [[electronic resource] ] : the silent traveller from the East : a cultural biography / / Da Zheng ; foreword by Arthur C. Danto

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Brunswick, N.J., : Rutgers University Press, 2010

ISBN

0-8135-4927-2

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (359 p.)

Disciplina

920.0092951073

Soggetti

Chinese American authors

Chinese American artists

Chinese - United States

Chinese - England

Asian diaspora

Chinese in literature

Exiles' writings, English - History and criticism

Travelers' writings, English - History and criticism

China In literature

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- CONTENTS -- FOREWORD. Chiang Yee As I Knew Him -- PREFACE -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- A NOTE ON ROMANIZATION -- 1. Chinese Childhood -- 2. Revolutionary Era -- 3. Civil Servant -- 4. No Longer in Need of a Bench -- 5. “Another C. Y.” -- 6. “The Thing Has Come at Last” -- 7. “My Own World” -- 8. Oxford Years -- 9. “My English Christmas” -- 10. To America -- 11. Americanized -- 12. “Invisible Pains” -- 13. Home -- 14. Family and Love -- 15. China Revisited -- 16. Homeward Bound -- Notes -- Primary Sources -- Writings by Chiang Yee -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

A young man arrives in England in the 1930's, knowing few words of the English language. Yet, two years later he writes a successful English book on Chinese art, and within the following decade publishes more than a dozen others. This is the true story of Chiang Yee, a renowned writer, artist, and worldwide traveler, best known for the Silent Traveller



series--stories of England, the United States, Ireland, France, Japan, and Australia--all written in his humorous, delightfully refreshing, and enlightening literary style. This biography is more than a recounting of extraordinary accomplishments. It also embraces the transatlantic life experience of Yee who traveled from China to England and then on to the United States, where he taught at Columbia University, to his return to China in 1975, after a forty-two year absence. Interwoven is the history of the communist revolution in China; the battle to save England during World War II; the United States during the McCarthy red scare era; and, eventually, thawing Sino-American relations in the 1970's. Da Zheng uncovers Yee's encounters with racial exclusion and immigration laws, displacement, exile, and the pain and losses he endured hidden behind a popular public image.