Study Of David Wong Louie's Short Stories

David Wong Louie is one of the most important contemporary Asian American writers.His first book Pangs of Love received the 1991 First Fiction Award.It was also named a Notable Book by New York Times.David Wong Louie' s writings are different from the ethic literature since they are not limited to the Chinese American figures' lives.His short stories are distinguished by unique narrative style,characters and eerie plots.This paper will analyze the book Pangs of Love,explore the artistic style that those short stories reflected,and discuss David Wong Louie's unique style of humor.The first chapter is an introduction which gives a detailed review of research on David Wong Louie's works.This chapter also explains the significance of the paper.The second chapter discusses David Wong Louie's attitude towards ethnicity.Firstly,it points out that in order to attract American readers the author doesn't tell about the characters' identities clearly.Secondly,it discusses that David Wong Louie's writings are not limited to the Chinese American life,but the contemporary American life as well.Meanwhile,the author takes a deep thought about the communication and harmony between Chinese and western culture.The third chapter analyzes the characters in Pangs of Love.The first section analyzes characters those who represent different cultures.The first generation of Chinese immigrants clings to the traditional Chinese culture while their offspring embraces the western culture.The tension between the two generations is inevitable and causes a lot of pain.The second section analyzes Chinese American men's living condition.They face a lot of pressure when they date white women.Meanwhile,the author shows his concern about Chinese American men's loss of masculinity.The third section analyzes the characters who cannot adapt to modern life and become anxious even hysterical.The fourth chapter discusses David Wong Louie's way of narration.The first section discusses how and why the author uses various writing perspective to tell those stories.The second section discusses spatial narrative used by the author.Because of this way of narration,readers can participate in those stories.The third section discusses the disorganized timeline of those short stories which is author's way to highlight the theme.The fifth chapter analyzes David Wong Louie's unique style of humor.The first section analyzes the black humor employed by the author.David Wong Louie is good at using Pidgin English and parody of classic literature to make jokes.The reality behind those jokes is cruel because the two generations of immigrants cannot communicate with or understand each other.So the pain will last forever.The second section analyzes David Wong Louie' s personal style of humor.Those eerie plots are quite impressive.Meanwhile,he weaves reality and dreams together to reveal the cruelty of life.The last part summarizes David Wong Louie's unique style of writing.