Transgression, Myth, Simulation, Coalition
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE Cyborg Dreams in Asian American Transnationality: Transgression, Myth, Simulation, Coalition A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English by Mary Hikyung Song September 2012 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Traise Yamamoto, Chairperson Dr. Steven Axelrod Dr. James Tobias Copyright by Mary Hikyung Song 2012 The Dissertation of Mary Hikyung Song is approved: Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Finishing this dissertation marks a point in my life where the path that was once steep and narrow now becomes steep and wide. In this economy, the path isn’t getting any less steep. But I recognize now, that the path is actually wide. It is not just me who is on it, but all those who have helped me travel this path. Thank you, professors at University of California, Riverside. All of you have touched my mind and my heart such that English literature is not only my work but also my love. Your spiritual generosity, your intellectual brilliance, your wise patience, your kind enthusiasm and support ! each and every moment you offered helped keep me on this path. I am a reticent person when it comes to praise but as Gertrude Stein was purported to have said, “Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone.” Thank you so much, Dr. Traise Yamamoto, for your faith in me that always inspired me to work harder, for your patience that reminded to love this work, and for all your critical examination of my work that reveals your generous spirit to me and shares your brilliant mind with me. Thank you so much, Dr. Steve Axelrod, for your afternoons on Harlem Renaissance and Beat culture over tea with a cat on each armrest. Your words, warmth and wisdom allowed me to envision and emulate an exceptional standard of scholarship always founded on a love of literature. Thank you, Dr. James Tobias, for taking me under your wing in my eleventh hour and allowing my passion for cyberculture to grow and deepen. Thank you, Dr. Katherine Kinney for convincing me to apply to the UCR English graduate program; I might never have commenced on this path had it not been for your iv advice and support. Thank you, Drs. Kim Devlin, Deborah Willis, Carole-Anne Tyler and Susan Zieger for being professors who sparked and nurtured my desire to be a part of such a powerful intellectual community. Thank you, Dr. Rise Axelrod, for helping me grow into a capable and effective educator. Your critique was always wise, and your support always made me feel safe to stand up for my pedagogical convictions. Thank you, Dr. Rob Latham, for your immediate support in my thirteenth hour of qualifying exams. Not only was your generous participation crucial, your input was invaluable. Thank you, Dr. Jodi Kim, for your support and input during my exams. Not only was your intellectual insight helpful, it motivated me to stay committed to this path even when things became difficult. Thank you, Dr. Edward Chang; it was a pleasure to do graduate research for you. Not only did it open my eyes to a broader perspective of Asian American studies, your generous and kind mentorship will never be forgotten. Thank you, administrators at University of California, Riverside. You have shown me what true professionalism is; you have proven how truly special the institution of UCR is. Thank you, Tina Feldmann. Your no-nonsense business paired with your intuitive emotional support were immeasurably significant to my academic survival. Thank you, Linda Nellany and Susan Brown, your warm and professional support was not missed. Thank you, Kara Oswood, for your patient guidance and academic scrutiny in the production of this dissertation. Thank you, my dearest colleagues and friends who have not only offered me your intellectual insight, but your generous spiritual support. Thank you, Dr. Valerie Solar Woodward, Dr. Melissa Garcia, Dr. Miriam Neirick, Sarah Shealy, Paul Cheng, Crystal v Brownell, Tanner Higgin, Nan Ma, Sheila Bare, Dr. Jack Beckham, Hank Scotch and anyone else I may have missed who contributed your time, your mind and your friendship in the intellectual formations of this dissertation endeavor. Every beer over Foucault and Derrida, every boba drink and Chinese dumpling had over the politics of our work impacted my fortitude to go on, my inspiration to articulate something meaningful, my desire to share. Thank you, my husband and my son, Albert and Noah Pasaoa. Falling in love with my Starbuck’s study partner and having our utterly beautiful son not only made it all worthwhile, it was what made finishing this dissertation literally possible. Albert Pasaoa, not only were you a phenomenal daddy, your untiring encouragement, your scholarly attention and your infuriatingly oppositional intellect kept my mind sharp, my work inspired and my heart warmed. Noah Pasaoa, your crying made me the disciplined scholar I always strove to be. Your laughter makes me the happiest mama in the universe. Thank you, Dr. Donald Song and Susan Song, Dad and Mom, the first people to believe in me, the first people to inspire me, the first people to demand excellence from me, the first people love me. Thank you for your unconditional support. I owe all that I am to your loving guidance. Thank you, Mom, for your fierce courage, your amazing honesty and your mother’s love. Thank you, Dad, for your profound wisdom, your incredible patience, and your magnanimous love. vi DEDICATION I dedicate this work to my husband and my son, Albert and Noah Pasaoa. vii ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Cyborg Dreams in Asian American Transnationality: Transgression, Myth, Simulation, Coalition by Mary Hikyung Song Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Program in English University of California, Riverside, September 2012 Dr. Traise Yamamoto, Chairperson By deploying a cyberculture theory of cyborg politics in my literary analyses of Asian American literature, I deconstruct Asian American subjectivity through the trope of transnationality. In the Asian American transnational, I locate four prominent traits of Donna Haraway’s socialist feminist cyborg: boundary transgression, the recognition and re-scripting of myth, simulations of identity, and coalitions of affinity. By adopting the language of cyberculture, I envision Asian American literature as a technologized textual landscape where narrative becomes virtual narrative such that we draw away from the static nature of a representational politics of identity in order to formulate articulations on a simulational politics of identity. Brian Massumi advocates privileging simulations of identity because unlike representations of identity that cannot move into the realm of the virtual due to being entrenched within a static grid of viii immobile significations, simulations allow us to imagine mobile concepts like movement, affect and sensation in the discourse of culture and power. Recognizing the Asian American transnational’s propensity to transgress boundaries just as readily as the cyborg, I examine the transnational’s capacity to recognize, reveal, and contradict hegemonic constructs that sustain the mythology of coherent subjectivity, seamless national identity and the U.S. nation as the democratic ideal. The indeterminate nature of the Asian American transnational limns how the racially-marked Asian American body contradicts, exacerbates and exceeds the circumscriptions of U.S. national identity. In five Korean American novels, I investigate indeterminacy in Korean American narrative and subjectivity such that it demonstrates the Kandice Chuh’s suggestion to deconstruct Asian American subjectivities in order to formulate a more subjectless discourse. By deconstructing a particularized identity such as Korean American identity, I deploy my investigation in a language specific enough to make significantly concrete arguments for deconstructing Asian American subjectivity overall. Finally, I demonstrate the efficacy and cogency in formulating a critical language of affect into the discourse of literary scholarship due to my conviction that affect is not only a crucial space where we might imagine an emergent liberatory politics but that affect is also a critical tool where such a politics of movement and change can indeed materialize. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Theoretical Apologetic as applied to A Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee . 1-40 Chapter 2: Boundary Transgressions as applied to Clay Walls by Ronyoung Kim . 41-83 Chapter 3: Myth and Reality as applied to Dictee by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha . 84-135 Chapter 4: Identity Simulation as applied to American Woman by Susan Choi . 136-182 Chapter 5: Coalitions of Affinity as applied to Comfort Woman by Nora Okja Keller . 183-232 Works Cited. 233-234 x Chapter 1: Theoretical Apologetic as applied to A Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee “This is not just literary deconstruction, but liminal transformation.” (Haraway 178) Why transport a cybercultural theory of cyborg politics into Asian American literary studies? Another way to pose this question is: Why should Asian American literary studies reconsider Asian American subjectivity? Such a question contends with crucial issues such as embodiment, the material conditions that have organized Asian American identity through the nation-state, and Asian American transnationality.1 Since “Asian American” is a term that arose out of the civil rights political movements of the 1960s, the diversity of bodies that constitute this political term has greatly expanded. Furthermore, the