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An Empathetic Art: Renwen仁文Masculinity in Asian American Literature
- Cheung, King-Kok
- Editor(s): Cooper, Lydia;
- Joanna, Conings
Published Web Location
https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367520090-21Abstract
This essay advances a masculinity that blends the Confucian ideals of ren 仁 (benevolence, mutual care) and wen 文 (literacy, artistry, cultivation) with the feminist ethic of care. Through the works of David Wong Louie, Russell C. Leong, and Viet Thanh Nguyen, I track a unique Asian American legacy and inscribe a new benchmark for masculinity in the literary arts. For Asian Americans historically threatened with (ex)termination, and now, by anti-Asian violence around the Covid-19 plague), renwen is a survival imperative:
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