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Wesley Yang

The Souls of Yellow Folk: Essays Hardcover – November 13, 2018

by Wesley Yang (Author)

4.3 126 ratings

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The National Magazine Award–winning writer’s debut collection of incisive, stylish essays on race and gender.

One of the most acclaimed essayists of his generation, Wesley Yang writes about race and sex without the jargon, formulas, and polite lies that bore us all. His powerful debut, The Souls of Yellow Folk, does more than collect a decade’s worth of cult-reputation essays―it corrals new American herds of pickup artists, school shooters, mandarin zombies, and immigrant strivers, and exposes them to scrutiny, empathy, and polemical force.

In his celebrated and prescient essay “The Face of Seung-Hui Cho,” Yang explores the deranged logic of the Virginia Tech shooter. In his National Magazine Award–winning “Paper Tigers,” he explores the intersection of Asian values and the American dream, and the inner torment of the child exposed to “tiger mother” parenting. And in his close reading of New York Magazine’s popular Sex Diaries, he was among the first critics to take seriously today’s Internet-mediated dating lives.

Yang catches these ugly trends early because he has felt at various times implicated in them, and he does not exempt himself from his radical honesty. His essays retain the thrill of discovery, the wary eye of the first explorer, and the rueful admission of the first exposed.

Print length

256 pages
Language

English
Publisher

W. W. Norton & Company
Publication date

November 13, 2018
Dimensions

5.9 x 0.9 x 8.6 inches
ISBN-10

0393241742
ISBN-13

978-0393241747
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"The cry for individual identity can be no louder than in [this] piercing collection…[F]ierce and refreshing."
― Carlos Lozada, Washington Post

"With gonzo candor and intellectual capaciousness, Yang’s Du Bois–inflected essays probe the identity crises of Asian American men and their ‘peculiar burden of nonrecognition.’"
― O Magazine

"As Yang’s avid followers already know, his laser scrutiny spares no one―not even Yang himself."
― The Millions

"Incisive and provocative…Yang provides piercing, prickly insight into the challenges Asian-Americans face from racial and cultural bias, with literary style."
― Publishers Weekly

"Yang writes with elegance and a fearless interest in the uncommon and unsayable."
― Booklist

"[A] perceptive, personal view of the lives of Asian-Americans."
― Kirkus Reviews

"Nobody writes sentences (or profiles) like Wesley Yang. He is our Balzac."
― Elif Batuman, author of The Idiot

"This is a spectacular essay collection, as eloquent and stylishly written as it is morally essential. With lucidity and unsentimental humanity, Wesley Yang shows us a new type of forgotten man, one whose suffering is primarily psychological. We often think of the brutality of private life as the natural province of fiction or memoir, but Yang combines the novel’s power to dissect personal psychology with the breadth, directness and raw honesty of the essay. A stunning achievement, this book deserves to be read and re-read for years to come."
― Adelle Waldman, author of The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.

"Wesley Yang’s unsparing vision always affects me powerfully."
― Mark Greif, author of Against Everything

"A terrifically honest writer, Wesley Yang articulates feelings others are too afraid to call up, let alone confront. This collection is essential because it adheres to no ideology; Yang panders to no one. Instead, with sharp, and even Naipaulian, prose, he takes us deep into the discomfort zones of racial and political discourse."
― Karan Mahajan, author of The Association of Small Bombs

"Wesley Yang’s pen is sharp, his imagination adventurous and his empathy devastating. His words snap a messy world into focus."
― Molly Young, author of D C-T!

About the Author

Wesley Yang has written for the New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, the New York Times Book Review, New York Magazine, Esquire, Tablet, and n+1. His work has appeared in Best American Essays, Best American Magazine Writing, Best Creative Nonfiction, and Best American Nonrequired Reading. He lives in Montreal.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company; First Edition (November 13, 2018)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393241742
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393241747
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.7 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.9 x 0.9 x 8.6 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #715,581 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #200 in Asian American Studies (Books)
- #969 in American Fiction Anthologies
- #2,396 in Essays (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.3 126 ratings

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Pseudo D

angst

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 16, 2021

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As other reviewers have pointed out, the title mostly applies to the first third or so of the book. With
all the emphasis on race these days, there are a number of interesting reflections on Asian-Americans,
such as Harry Xu's Inconvenient Minority. Yang begins with an intense essay on Cho, the killer from
Virginia Tech in 2007. He then goes into the importance of recognition in this era of identity politics,
with its negativity toward whiteness and masculinity. In Yang's description, the dilemma facing
Asian-Americans, especially Asian men, is not being fully in the white majority but also not really
being viewed as a minority. I somewhat empathized with this, being half-Filipino and not really
viewing myself as a minority, but being formed by a lot of my mom's intensity and values of
achievement. In recent years, when Pacific Islander is offered as an option, I identify with that
more than Asian.

Yang goes into more personal issues such as sexual frustration, noting that many Asian men view
problems not as political or ideological but as personal existential problems. With the value of
the family over the individual, it can be difficult to assert one's unique personality.

The next part of the book is less about race and more about the elite culture of New York that
he's lived in. There's more about the sexual behavior of that demographic, and sharp social
commentary on the influence of the internet and social media on people's behavior and
practices.

The last section gets into what we're always talking about, identity politics, and the rapid
change that has taken place since roughly 2014. Obama ran as a liberal in 2007-8, and
yet his rhetoric on identity seems mild compared to today's language and norms on race,
gender and sexuality. The lingo of elite college campuses has now become mainstream
in education, the media, technology, corporations and other leading institutions. Of course,
the presidency of Trump is also discussed at the end.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Richard Bakare

A Tapestry of Ideologies

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 20, 2021

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This book is not at all what I expected fit to be. Instead of the Asian perspective packaged in a similar style to Du Bois’ masterpiece, instead you get something of a wandering journey through ideological thoughts. At the same time, this book is a complex collection of essays that provides uniquely different take on the Asian experience and place in America.

Yang covers various parts of the lived experience for Asian Americans including the seemingly invisible identity in crowds even when the accomplishments, infamy, or access should beg the spotlight. That the “bamboo ceiling” exists and blocks the advancement of Asians along with all of the history and struggle tied to the artificial cap. Yang also takes us through the elusiveness of finding comfort in just being in one’s own skin. This lack of place being a constant battle between following a plan to success that doesn’t always bring a feeling of belonging or truly independent identity.

Just when you think you are about to dive deeper into the a deeper analysis of a people with a rising power but seemingly no real influence; Yang thrusts us into a series of ideological essays from perspectives that combine to show that the world view is largely defined by white men with their own faults. Initially confusing, I believe the aim was to show that no matter what a minority does, a white male in a far off NYC apartment, can cast a shadow on an entire religion or race.

This collection of essays is very thought provoking and well written. Yang’s style is a combination of investigative journalism with sweeping prose and language that sucks you in. But a tight thread from essay to essay is hard to find which leaves you head scratching waiting for the deeper tie-ins that really end up being educated guesses at his intent. I really was expecting to learn even more about a mix of Asian American experiences and identity but even without that it was an interesting read.

Helpful

Andrew S.

Yang has a bold, distinctive voice

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 5, 2021

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This collection of essays is like a "best hits" collection of Yang's cultural criticism spanning the period of the "Great Awokening" in elite liberal culture, and Trumpism in populist culture. In this sense, he does provide a probing and noteworthy exploration of the issues of the Asian-American identity, but he does so with skills of observation and language powerful enough to distill broader, more universal truths from amidst the roiling, social-media-infused cultural warfare that has come to define the Trump and post-Trump era.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

_J______

A dark, bold and refreshing take on current issues.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 23, 2018

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Wesley clearly illustrates the problems of today with laser-like precision and without holding anything back. He writes with razor-sharp wit on topics many would not dare speak about. This book is a necessary read in today's climate.

"...even as it was always the most salient of all facts, the one most readily on display, the thing that was unspeakable precisely because it need never be spoken: that as the bearer of an Asian face in America, you paid some incremental penalty, never absolute but always omnipresent, that meant that you were by default unlovable and unloved; that you were presumptively a nobody, a mute and servile figure, distinguishable above all by your total incapacity to threaten anyone; that you were many laudable things that the world might respect and reward, but that you were fundamentally powerless to affect anyone in a way that would make you either loved or feared."

11 people found this helpful

Helpful

Daniel Yi

Series of very interesting articles

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 12, 2021

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Cultural and social commentary from the perspective of an Asian American male. Really interesting and looking forward to wesley’s substack

Helpful

Kevin H.

Biting and Reflective Social Critique, Definitely Recommend

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 20, 2020

Verified Purchase

Yang is a talented writer, not just on account of his clarity and diction, but moreso for his unflinching lens, especially when he turns it on himself. You won’t be disappointed.

2 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

A great book on the place Asian Americans have in society.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 2, 2019

Verified Purchase

Wesley Yang's writing style is to the point and cutting. I would have preferred more articles relating to the Asian American experience but out of the ~9 in this book, only 3 are directly related and 1 is about Francis Fukuyama. Still, every essay in this book is amazing.

7 people found this helpful

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