Diana Chang (Chinese: 張粲芳; 1924 – February 19, 2009) was a Chinese American novelist and poet.[1] She is best known for her novel The Frontiers of Love, one of the earliest novels by an Asian American woman. She is considered to be the first American-born Chinese to publish a novel in the United States.[2]
Diana Chang | |
|---|---|
 Chang beside a Marc Chagall lithograph, c. 1951 | |
| Born | 1924 |
| Died | February 19, 2009 (aged 84–85) |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Nationality | Chinese, Japanese, American |
| Alma mater | Barnard College, Columbia University |
| Genre | Novel, poetry |
| Notable works | The Frontiers of Love |
 Literature portal | |
Early life
editChang was born in New York City to a Chinese father, Kuang Chi Chang, and Eurasian mother, Eva Mary Lee Wah Chang, but spent her youngest years in China, including Beijing, Nanjing, and Shanghai.[1][2] She attended high school in New York, and graduated cum laude from Barnard College in 1949 where she majored in English, focusing on British and American Poets.[3] While an undergraduate at Barnard, Chang had 3 of her poems published by Poetry Magazine, including her work "At The Window."[1]
Career
editAfter graduation, Chang worked as a book editor at three reputable publishing houses: Avon Books, Bobbs-Merrill, A. A. Wyn).[1][4] She also worked as the editor for the PEN-sponsored journal American Pen and as a creative writing teacher at Barnard College.[2]
Literary work
editChang's best known work is The Frontiers of Love. Her work has more recently been read in terms of postmodernity and hybridity.[2] Although critical work on Chang has increased since the republication of Frontiers, critics have preferred to examine her Asian-themed works; her "white" novels are only recently getting attention.[2] While at Barnard College, Chang published her poem, Mood in Modern Poetry Association's Poetry.[3][5]
Personal life
editChang lived in Water Mill, NY with her husband David Hermann.[1]
She died on February 19, 2009.
Published works
editNovels
edit- The Frontiers of Love, (1956, reissued 1974)
- A Woman of Thirty (1959)
- A Passion for Life (1961)
- The Only Game in Town (1963)
- Eye to Eye (1974)
- A Perfect Love (1978)
Poetry
edit- Saying Yes (Unknown)
- The Horizon is Definitely Speaking (1982)
- What Matisse is After (1984)
- Earth Water Light (1991)
Awards
edit- Fulbright
- John Hay Whitney Opportunity Fellowship
- Mademoiselle Magazine Woman-of-the-Year
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ a b c d e "Diana Chang Papers". www.stonybrook.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-28.
- ^ a b c d e Roh-Spaulding, Carol (2000). "Diana Chang (1934– )". In Nelson, Emmanuel Sampath (ed.). Asian American Novelists: A Bio-bibliographical Critical Sourcebook. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 38–43. ISBN 978-03-1330-911-3.
- ^ a b "Barnard Archives".
- ^ Hamalian, Leo (December 1995). "A MELUS Interview: Diana Chang". Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States. 20 (4): 29–43. doi:10.2307/467888. JSTOR 467888.
- ^ Chang, Diana (November 1946). "Three Poems". Poetry Foundation. Poetry. Retrieved 2019-11-23.[permanent dead link]
Further reading
edit- Baringer, Sandra. "'The Hybrids and the Cosmopolitans': Race, Gender, and Masochism in Diana Chang's The Frontiers of Love" pp. 107–21 IN: Brennan, Jonathan (ed. and introd.); Mixed Race Literature. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP; 2002.
- Fink, Thomas; "Chang's 'Plunging into View'" Explicator, 1997 Spring; 55 (3): 175–77.
- Grice, Helena. "Diana Chang" pp. 30–35 IN: Madsen, Deborah L. (ed. and introd.); Asian American Writers. Detroit, MI: Gale; 2005.
- Grice, Helena. "Face-ing/De-Face-ing Racism: Physiognomy as Ethnic Marker in Early Eurasian/Amerasian Women's Texts" pp. 255–70 IN: Lee, Josephine (ed.); Lim, Imogene L. (ed.); Matsukawa, Yuko (ed.); Re/Collecting Early Asian America: Essays in Cultural History. Philadelphia, PA: Temple UP; 2002.
- Ling, Amy; "Writer in the Hyphenated Condition: Diana Chang" MELUS, 1980 Winter; 7 (4): 69–83.
- Spaulding, Carol Vivian; Blue-Eyed Asians: Eurasianism in the Work of Edith Eaton/Sui Sin Far, Winnifred Eaton/Onoto Watanna, and Diana Chang. Dissertation Abstracts International, Section A: The Humanities and Social Sciences, 1997 Jan; 57 (7): 3024–25. U of Iowa, 1996.
- Wu, Wei-hsiung Kitty; Cultural Ideology and Aesthetic Choices: A Study of Three Works by Chinese-American Women—Diana Chang, Bette Bao Lord, and Maxine H. Kingston.' Dissertation Abstracts International, 1990 June; 50 (12): 3956A.