The Art of Parody: Maxine Hong Kingston’s Use of Chinese Sources

Maxine Hong Kingston’s use of Chinese sources is both controversial and intricate. This study, grounded in a cross-cultural perspective, systematically analyzes Kingston’s employment of Chinese sources in The Woman Warrior, China Men, and Tripmaster Monkey, and teases out a basis for a coherent, unifying reading of her three major works. It discusses how Kingston’s bicultural heritage enables her to observe life from the vantage of double consciousness, and how this vantage helps her travel freely across cultural boundaries to parody and play with both Chinese and American traditions in order to find a unique voice in her search of identity.