An Immigrant Novel Revisited: Jean Kwok’s Girl in Translation

Brygida Gasztold

An Immigrant Novel Revisited: Jean Kwok’s Girl in Translation

Publication date: 19.09.2023

Scripta Judaica Cracoviensia, 2021, Volume 19, pp. 79 - 92

https://doi.org/10.4467/20843925SJ.21.006.16415

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An Immigrant Novel Revisited: Jean Kwok’s Girl in Translation

Abstract

The article explores the genre of immigrant narrative, comparing two early-twentieth century novels written by the Jewish-American writers Mary Antin and Anzia Yezierska with a contemporary novel penned by the Chinese-American author Jean Kwok. Taking adaptation theory (Sanders 2006 and Hutcheon 2006) as a starting point, I examine how Kwok’s novel adapts, revises, and reimagines a familiar pattern across time and cultures in order to make it representative of Chinese Americans. The analysis draws attention to experiences of Chinese immigrant women, their class membership and socio-economic status.

Keywords

immigrant narrative genre, adaptation, Jewish-American literature, Chinese-American literature, immigrant women

References

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Information

Information: Scripta Judaica Cracoviensia, 2021, Volume 19, pp. 79 - 92

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4467/20843925SJ.21.006.16415

Article type: Original article

Titles:

Polish:

An Immigrant Novel Revisited: Jean Kwok’s Girl in Translation

English:

An Immigrant Novel Revisited: Jean Kwok’s Girl in Translation

Authors

Brygida Gasztold

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1985-1713

Koszalin University of Technology

Published at: 19.09.2023

Article status: Open

Licence: CC BY

Percentage share of authors:

Brygida Gasztold (Author) - 100%

Article corrections:

Publication languages:

English

View count: 467

Number of downloads: 497

<p> An Immigrant Novel Revisited: Jean Kwok’s <em>Girl in Translation</em></p>

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