The Making of an Asian American Short-Story Cycle: Don Lee's Yellow: Stories

• Published in: Journal of American studies 2015-08, Vol.49 (3), p.593-613
• Main Author: LEE, KUN JONG
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: American literature; Anderson, Sherwood (1876-1941); Asian American literature; Asian Americans; British & Irish literature; Cultural identity; Ethnicity; Generations; Immigrants; Irish literature; Joyce, James (1882-1941); Korean language; Lee, Don; Lee, Don (1971- ); Literature; Periodicals; Short stories; South Korea; Stories; Tan, Amy; U.S.A; Writers
• ISSN: 0021-8758; 1469-5154
• DOI: 10.1017/S0021875815000699

Don Lee reworked his eight magazine stories to varying degrees, arranged the sequence of the stories in a specific order, and published a short-story cycle in 2001. Significantly, the writer changed the ethnic identity of some characters from white American to Asian American. He also added and highlighted Asian American themes and issues. In short, Lee made an “Asian American” short-story cycle par excellence by coloring his stories yellow. This essay examines Lee's rewriting and arrangement of his magazine stories for an Asian American short-story cycle. It first compares the differences between the magazine and cycle versions of the stories. It goes on to examine totalizing devices such as the common setting, recurrent places, connective characters, and unifying themes. Lastly, it elucidates the arrangement of the eight stories and significance of the title story in the cycle. It ultimately argues that Don Lee retrofitted his magazine stories extensively and meticulously for a short-story cycle in order to portray the diverse aspects of post-immigrant Asian America at the turn of the century from his positionality as a third-generation Korean American.