Double Agency: Acts of Impersonation in Asian American Literature and Culture
Tina Chen
In Double Agency, Tina Chen proposes impersonation as a paradigm for teasing out the performative dimensions of Asian American literature and culture. Asian American acts of impersonation, she argues, foreground the limits of subjectivity even as they insist on the undeniable importance of subjecthood.
By decoupling imposture from impersonation, Chen shows how Asian American performances have often been misinterpreted, read as acts of betrayal rather than multiple allegiance. A central paradox informing the book—impersonation as a performance of divided allegiance that simultaneously pays homage to and challenges authenticity and authority—thus becomes a site for reconsidering the implications of Asian ... Read more
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About Tina Chen
Reviews for Double Agency: Acts of Impersonation in Asian American Literature and Culture
CHOICE "...the sophistication with which Chen develops her critical framework and the deftness of her close readings make Double Agency an insightful and influential addition to the field of Asian American literary and cultural studies." ... Read more