SOURCE: Diana, Vanessa Holford. “Biracial/Bicultural Identity in the Writings of Sui Sin Far.” MELUS 26, no. 2 (summer 2001): 159-86.

In the following essay, Diana asserts that Far's short fiction functions to deconstruct stereotypes of “Orientalism” through her treatment of such themes as bi-racial identity, interracial marriage, and race relations in the United States.

At the turn into the twentieth century, American culture witnessed related literary and political shifts through which marginalized voices gained increased strength despite the severe racism that informed US laws and social interaction. Many authors and literary critics saw connections between literary content and social influence. For example, in Criticism and Fiction (1891), William Dean Howells, proponent of nineteenth-century American realism, warns readers to avoid sentimental or sensational novels, which he claims “hurt” by presenting “idle lies about human nature and the social fabric.” He reminds us that “it behooves us to know and to understand” our...