Chang and Eng Reconnected: The Original Siamese Twins in American Culture

Title Page, Copyright, Quotes

CHANG AND ENG RECONNECTED temple university press philadelphia CHANG AND ENG RECONNECTED The Original Siamese Twins in American Culture CYNTHIA WU 333 temple university press philadelphia, pennsylvania 19122 www.temple.edu/tempress Copyright © 2012 by temple university all rights reserved published 2012 library of Congress Cataloging-in-publication data Wu, Cynthia, 1973– Chang and eng reconnected : the original siamese twins in american culture / Cynthia Wu. p. cm. includes bibliographical references and index. isBn 978-1-4399-0868-6 (hardback : alk. paper) — isBn 978-1-4399-0869-3 (paper : alk. paper) — isBn 978-1-4399-0870-9 (e-book) 1. Conjoined twins in literature. 2. american literature—19th century—history and criticism. 3. american literature—20th century— history and criticism. 4. Bunker, Chang, 1811-1874—in literature. 5. Bunker, eng, 1811-1874—in literature. 6. literature and society— united states. 7. popular culture—united states. 8. asian americans in literature. i. title. ps217.C63W8 2012 810.9′351—dc23 2012008892 the paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the american national standard for information sciences—permanence of paper for printed library materials, ansi Z39.48-1992 printed in the united states of america 2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1 As social conditions become more equal, the number of persons increases who, although they are neither rich nor powerful enough to exercise any great influence over their fellows, have nevertheless acquired or retained sufficient education and fortune to satisfy their own wants. they owe nothing to any man, they expect nothing from any man; they acquire the habit of always considering themselves as standing alone, and they are apt to imagine that their whole destiny is in their own hands. —Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America For, before we proceed further, it must be said that the monkeyrope was fast at both ends; fast to Queequeg’s broad canvas belt, and fast to my narrow leather one. so that for better or for worse, we two, for the time, were wedded; and should poor Queequeg sink to rise no more, then both usage and honor demanded, that instead of cutting the cord, it should drag me down in its wake. —Herman Melville, Moby-Dick The problem is not simply the “selfhood” of the nation as opposed to the otherness of other nations. We are confronted with the nation split within itself, articulating the heterogeneity of its population. —Homi K. Bhabha, “DisseminNation: Time, Narrative, and the Margins of the Modern Nation” ...