{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20261010T034321Z-reviewed-full-unique-works","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0816674442?tag=bookfrontie00-20","asin":"0816674442","authors":["Juliana Chang"],"book_id":"9780816674442","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/inhuman-citizenship-9780816674442","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780816674442.jpg?v=ed8962734d793c11","description":"In Inhuman Citizenship , Juliana Chang claims that literary representations of Asian American domesticity may be understood as symptoms of America’s relationship to its national fantasies and to the “jouissance”—a Lacanian term signifying a violent yet euphoric shattering of the self—that both overhangs and underlies those fantasies. In the national imaginary, according to Chang, racial subjects are often perceived as the source of jouissance, which they supposedly embody through their excesses of violence, sexuality, anger, and ecstasy—excesses that threaten to overwhelm the social order. To examine her argument that racism ascribes too much, rather than a lack of, humanity, Chang analyzes domestic accounts by Asian American writers, including Fae Myenne Ng’s Bone , Brian Ascalon Roley’s American Son , Chang-rae Lee’s Native Speaker , and Suki Kim’s The Interpreter . Employing careful reading and Lacanian psychoanalysis, Chang finds sites of excess and shock: they are not just narratives of trauma; they produce trauma as well. They render Asian Americans as not only the objects but also the vehicles and agents of inhuman suffering. And, claims Chang, these novels disturb yet strangely exhilarate the reader through characters who are objects of racism and yet inhumanly enjoy their suffering and the suffering of others. Through a detailed investigation of “family business” in works of Asian American life, Chang shows that by identifying with the nation’s psychic disturbance, Asian American characters ethically assume responsibility for a national unconscious that is all too often disclaimed.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780816674442","publication_date":"20121016","publisher":"University of Minnesota Press","slug":"inhuman-citizenship","subtitle":"Traumatic Enjoyment and Asian American Literature","title":"Inhuman Citizenship"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"LIT004030","confidence_band":"high","label":"Asian American Lit Crit","score":0.8483,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LIT025060","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Race & Culture in Literature","score":0.7615,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LIT024060","confidence_band":"medium","label":"21st Century Literature","score":0.7526,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"LIT004030","confidence_band":"high","label":"Asian American Lit Crit","score":0.8483,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LIT025060","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Race & Culture in Literature","score":0.7615,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LIT024060","confidence_band":"medium","label":"21st Century Literature","score":0.7526,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"LIT004030","confidence_band":"high","label":"Asian American Lit Crit","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"SOC043000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Asian American Studies","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Asian American Lit Crit","score":0.8483,"slug":"asian-american-lit-crit"},{"label":"Race & Culture in Literature","score":0.7615,"slug":"race-culture-in-literature"},{"label":"21st Century Literature","score":0.7526,"slug":"21st-century-literature"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers interested in Lacanian psychoanalysis and Asian American literature","Readers exploring racism and national fantasies in Asian American writing"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Stephen Hong Sohn"],"book_id":"9781503605923","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781503605923.jpg?v=2aae066aab04ce73","score":0.7351,"title":"Inscrutable Belongings","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781503605923"},{"authors":["Karen Shimakawa"],"book_id":"9780822328230","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780822328230.jpg?v=785fd2a729861f11","score":0.7202,"title":"National Abjection","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780822328230"},{"authors":["Lisa Lowe"],"book_id":"9780822318644","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780822318644.jpg?v=44dae365a84acfac","score":0.7169,"title":"Immigrant Acts","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780822318644"},{"authors":["Yunte Huang"],"book_id":"9780674026377","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780674026377.jpg?v=a716c5061cba2668","score":0.7168,"title":"Transpacific Imaginations","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780674026377"},{"authors":["Jinqi Ling"],"book_id":"9781350336018","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781350336018.jpg?v=767c5abfde26fa36","score":0.711,"title":"Asian American Literature","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781350336018"},{"authors":["Cathy Park Hong"],"book_id":"9781984820389","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781984820389.jpg?v=7915e1d661ba56e6","score":0.6853,"title":"Minor Feelings","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781984820389"},{"authors":["Crystal Parikh"],"book_id":"9780823230433","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780823230433.jpg?v=6f0a2c2cc6c967a9","score":0.6825,"title":"An Ethics of Betrayal","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780823230433"},{"authors":["Christina Sharpe"],"book_id":"9780822346098","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780822346098.jpg?v=3f5dbe69b193f6c6","score":0.6787,"title":"Monstrous Intimacies","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780822346098"}],"topics":[],"what_you_get":["Themes: Asian American literature, Racism and national identity, Trauma and suffering.","Reading lane: Asian American Lit Crit and Race & Culture in Literature.","Publisher: University of Minnesota Press."]},"llm_signals":{"confidence":0.9,"pacing":"unknown","reader_fit":["Readers interested in Lacanian psychoanalysis and Asian American literature","Readers exploring racism and national fantasies in Asian American writing"],"themes":["Asian American literature","Racism and national identity","Trauma and suffering"],"tropes":[]},"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":true,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":0,"goodreads_ratings_count":7,"goodreads_reviews_count":1,"quality_score":0.8226}}