But seriously, if an Asian author cannot do an Asian accent to portray his or her character then who the hell can? I see Kristan wrote more at length and better about this than I did.

Speaking as a Caucasoid, I think when people talk like this it often comes from a place of insecurity about a person’s background. It reminds me of the uproar that happened with The Sopranpos or The Godfather movies and how the Italian-American community gets upset about portrayals there (my wife is Italian but sadly I am only 1/64 Italian).

Funny but my Jewish students (I teach yoga) don’t get upset when I use yiddish in class nor when I use it with an accent and I’m a poster-child for the patriarch if ever there was one.

But if an Asian can’t do an accent in a story to portray an Asian character then who the hell can? (Ed I thought when you did the voices in your reading here in Maine you did it thoughtfully and in the tone of the book).

In closing I would just say don’t trust Whitey.

Great post. I’m here via editorial assistant “Moonrat”‘s blog, and she posted on this same event/topic. This is what I commented to her:

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When I was at the Kenyon Review workshop last June, I wrote a piece (oh, this one, in fact! Postcard Stories #2) from the perspective of an immigrant Chinese woman. When I read it aloud (with the accent) in workshop, everyone loved it, and no one questioned my “right” to write it because I’m half-Chinese.

(Also note that the piece isn’t ABOUT her being an immigrant with an accent. That’s just part of her character.)

Then came time to pick a piece to read aloud to the entire Kenyon Review group (we were just 1 workshop of about 6). In discussing which of my pieces to read, the TA brought up that he thought it would be uncomfortable/exploitative if I read it with the accent. But we all agreed it didn’t work right/as well without the accent. Meanwhile, I was torn by his initial comments — was I exploiting my heritage?

Is Amy Tan exploitative? Maxine Hong Kingston (to bring it back to your blog)? Jhumpa Lahiri? Sherman Alexie?

The more I think about it, the more I’m sure I’m not exploiting my heritage. I’m simply “writing what I know.” (Although that’s a whole other debate, lol.)

But does that mean non-Asians CAN’T write about Asian heritage? What about the Memoirs of a Geisha dude? Or Lisa See, who is 1/8 Chinese but looks as white as white can be? (I’ve talked with her about this, actually.)

Like you, I don’t think it’s better to hide from the stories that make us uncomfortable or raise these questions. And I certainly don’t think it’s better to judge those who write them. Maybe it’s not a clear black and white, right or wrong. But maybe it’s thinking about and living within the shades of gray that will make us grow as people.