Amy Tan: A Critical Companion (Critical Companions to Popular Contemporary Writers) [Hardcover]

E. D. Huntley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 30, 1998 | ISBN-10: 0313302073 | ISBN-13: 978-0313302077

Amy Tan has established a reputation as a major novelist of not only the Asian American experience but the universal experience of family relationships. With the publication of her first novel, The Joy Luck Club in 1988, which touched the hearts of millions of readers, Tan joined the ranks of major contemporary novelists. Adapting her brand of Chinese traditional talk story as a vehicle for exploring the lives of the mothers and daughters at the center of her novels, Tan allows readers to experience the lives of her characters from multiple perspectives in parallel and intersecting narratives. In this first full-length study of her work, E.D. Huntley explores the fictional worlds Tan has created in her three novels, The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God's Wife, and The Hundred Secret Senses. A biographical chapter discusses the relationship of Tan with her own mother and its influence and that of her family on the subject matter of her novels. A chapter on Tan's literary heritage places her squarely in the tradition of Asian American literature. Each novel is discussed in a separate chapter and includes sections on plot development, character development, narrative structure, literary devices, setting, and major themes. Each chapter also includes an alternative critical reading from which to approach the novel to help readers see the novel in a different light. A complete bibliography of Tan's writings, writings about her work, and a list of reviews of each novel completes the work. This study is the ideal guide for students and readers of Tan's novels.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Huntley provides the student with an accessible, clear, and comprehensive overview of Tan's three novels.... For undergraduate collections.”–Choice

“In her study of Amy Tan, Huntley provides a substantive account of the Asian American literary tradition describing concerns about biculturalism that Tan shares with other Asian American writers, as well as explaining the universality of Tan's work.”–VOYA

About the Author

E.D. HUNTLEY is author of V.C. Andrews: A Critical Companion (Greenwood Press 1996).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 184 pages
• Publisher: Greenwood Press (July 30, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0313302073
• ISBN-13: 978-0313302077
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #834,974 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Reference, April 15, 2001

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"yuky123" (Oroville, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Amy Tan: A Critical Companion (Critical Companions to Popular Contemporary Writers) (Hardcover)

This book is highly useful for use as a reference to the style, complexities, and the method of Tan's writing. I found it especially useful after completeling three of Tan's novels and having to present to a classroom, the style, symbols, characteristics in which Tan uses.