Yellowface by RF Kuang

And writing conferences part 2

The setup is simple: within pages of the book’s opening, two frenemies (who met at a prestigious MFA program or maybe at an elite university) are having dinner. Athena, who happens to be Asian American, has seen tremendous success in her work. The other named June is white and not successful. Not surprisingly, she is very envious of Athena’s success….Could it be because Athena is a drop-dead gorgeous person of color? Could it be because of her sexy accent and tall elegant ballerina-like figure?

Or maybe it’s because she is an incredible writer?

At dinner, Athena chokes and dies. And June steals her manuscript-in-progress…

And that is how the story starts.

I am a big fan of RF Kuang, an author who refuses to publish in the same genre twice! I recently picked up her latest novel Yellowface, and was delighted when Roxane Gay announced it would be her bookclub pick for June. (I am also a huge fan of Roxane Gay).

Roxane asks:

There were many points before the plagiarized novel was published that June could have course-corrected. Why do you think she didn’t? What do you think was her point of no return? Why do you think the publishers were so quick to dismiss Candice’s concerns, and her suggestion of a sensitivity reader? What did you think of Kuang’s depiction of publishing and its inner workings? And how did you feel about the way Kuang wrote about the challenges, small and great, that writers of color sometimes face? Was she accurate? Too cynical? Not cynical enough?

When I started Yellowface, I was thinking along the lines of the ballet story, white swan/black swan... jealousy and artistic vision in the art world.... Because for me, the first thing I was struck by in the novel was the inviolability of artistic vision. Like science, art is collaborative and entire teams are involved in bringing a work to life—and yet, it is the artistic vision that is the seed and core and heart of the endeavor. June stole! All rights should’ve gone to Athena’s mother and the mother could’ve hired a writer or ghost writer to help finish the novel. June kept saying that she re-wrote the whole thing and it was now “hers”— but no matter how you slice it, she was barely more than an editor or ghost writer. Translators know how much close reading goes into creating a literary translation—and how a story in one language is translated, interpreted and transfigured into that in a new language…. and yet, the story is still the artist’s, right?

Yellowface is also a book about entitlement attitudes since we are in June’s head as she makes excuse after excuse of why she deserves her new found success… thank you, Athena!

More than anything, Yellowface is a takedown of US publishing and the way artists are packaged. Athena is not only “allowed” to write about Chinese history but is really constrained to ONLY write about Chinese history. This is rich since she is unable to speak or read Mandarin and she herself talks of being pigeonholed into “immigrant story author.” This evokes the issue that the call for diverse voices is not being accompanied with diversity in the actual industry—where is the call for it in publishing executives, literary tastemakers and in agents?

Anyone attending a writer’s conference with industry representatives will notice just how white the whole thing is. And I am thinking not just about the identity of those in actual power but about the kinds of stories being written. Storytelling styles that are representative of nonwhite cultures or subcultures are not easily placed or published. I wrote about this a bit in my essay at the Millions: Culture Shock: Reassessing the Workshop

And speaking of workshops, for anyone interested about my journey this summer at the three writing conferences that I mentioned at the end of this post, I am back from the first one and it was a great success!!! Studying with Katie Kitamura at the lighthouse festival in Denver was an overwhelmingly positive experience! Instead of focusing on the publishing industry and “selling” there was such a devotion to the literary life. All of the faculty were incredibly generous. And my cohort was unbelievably fantastic!!

No one talked about the anxieties of selling and I came home with so much feedaback that I had to frantically email Sewanee and Breadloaf and request I be allowed to submit a revision. As I told them, I really learned a lot and want to build on that… each said “yes” but only gave me a day to get the revisions in… I worked in a frenzy all day yesterday.

The entire focus at Lighthouse was on art. I really recommend it! And of course as a translator it was incredible to study with Kitamura who did such a wonderful job of depicting translators in her book Separation.

I went into this with such mixed feelings after an unpleasant first conference experience in Kauai but this one was really quite some thing! So I’m now feeling more positive about Sewanee and Broadloaf this summer! Loved it!

Please see the rest of this essay here at 3 Quarks Daily.

Guardian Interview: Rebecca F Kuang: ‘Who has the right to tell a story? It’s the wrong question to ask

The Audacious Book Club Conversation with R.F. Kuang