SOURCE: Huang, Betsy. “The Redefinition of the ‘Typical Chinese’ in Gish Jen's Typical American.” Hitting Critical Mass 4, no. 2 (summer 1997): 61-77.

In the following essay, Huang argues that Jen's Typical American complicates the stereotypical representation of Chinese vs. American culture portrayed in many other works by Chinese-American authors.

The title of Gish Jen's book, Typical American, is particularly provocative in that it engages readers to review the stereotypical notions of Americans and Chinese they may harbor. In spite of the growing number of contemporary Chinese American literature emerging onto the mainstream literary scene and seeking to shed new light on the Chinese immigrant experience,¹ stereotypes of Americans and Chinese long before formulated, disseminated, and perpetuated through literary works, sociological studies, and mass media are still accepted and employed by writers and readers alike. The conventional opposition between American and Chinese cultures is usually played out through generational conflicts, in...