Toward a Poetics of Asian American Fantasy: Laurence Yep's Construction of a Bicultural Mythology

This article reads the fantasy work of Laurence Yep as initiating a new genre, Asian American fantasy, which draws upon the beauties of each separate generic tradition while broadening their boundaries. Yep's fantasies unite the concerns and characteristics of Asian American literature with those of fantasy. He posits a way in which fantasy, a white-dominant genre, may move toward greater multiculturalism, even while he infuses elements of magic into Asian American literature. By so doing, he continues and melds the dynamic evolution of each genre.