Timely Discourses

Born in Guangzhou, China but was raised in Dallas, Texas, Rebecca Kuang has risen from relative obscurity to global literary recognition. The Poppy War, her debut novel, was published when she was only twenty-two; she started working on it during a gap year in China when she was still midway through college. The Poppy War was warmly received by the reading public and literary pundits alike. Despite being a debut novel, The Poppy War earned Kuang several accolades. She literary world, it seems, has found its next rising star. Riding on this wave of momentum, Kuang followed up her successful debut with an equally successful sophomore novel, The Dragon Republic.

Kuang’s first two novels were included by Time Magazine in its 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time list which it published in 2020; it was in the same year that Kuang published the third book in her popular fantasy trilogy. She took it up a notch in 2021 with the publication of her fourth novel, Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution. Babel was her first standalone novel but like her previous works, it was another resounding success, with Kuang earning more recognition. This consolidated her status as one of the voices to watch out for, particularly in the fantasy genre. It was in this genre that she found her niche.

But Kuang is not one to be pigeonholed. In 2023, she once again aimed to push the boundaries of what she can do. With the publication of her fifth novel, Yellowface, Kuang published her first novel outside the ambit of fantasy. Set in contemporary Washington, D.C., Kuang’s fifth novel charted the story of Juniper Hayward, a young white writer who was struggling to make it to the highly-competitive world of writing. Her debut novel was already forgotten by the reading public. It flopped hard that the initial plans to release a paperback was axed. Her literary agent was barely acknowledging her existence. This was not the trajectory of her career that she envisioned.

“Every writer I know feels this way about someone else. Writing is such a solitary activity. You have no assurance that what you’re creating has any value, and any indication that you’re behind in the rat race sends you spiraling into the pits of despair. Keep your eyes on your own paper, they say. But that’s hard to do when everyone else’s papers are flapping constantly in your face.”

~ R.F. Kuang, Yellowface

Juniper’s career was a glaring contrast from her friend, Athena Liu. Their friendship, however, was born out of circumstances rather than a bond that naturally formed due to similar interests and personalities. Juniper and Athena’s destiny crossed paths when they attended Yale University. During their freshman year, they lived on the same floor and shared the same classes. They both aspired to become successful writers. During the infancy of their careers, they submitted and published their short stories in the same literary magazines. They were both acknowledged as literary stars in the making. Post-university, they moved to the same city, Washington, D.C. It was at this juncture that their paths diverged. At the same time, something shifted.

While Juniper and Athena shared the same dream, they could not anymore be more different,. Juniper was born a white American while Athena Ling En Liu was born in Hong Kong. Growing up, Athena had a peripatetic life as she was raised between Sydney and New York and was educated in British boarding schools. Meanwhile, there was nothing impressive about Juniper’s background. This stark dichotomy in their backstories was a harbinger of their literary careers. With her debut novel, Athena immediately established a name for herself. She became the darling of the literary crowd. Her works were adored by the public who would consume every single of her releases. They were instant bestsellers. She capped it with a lucrative Netflix deal. Athena’s career was flourishing while Juniper’s was descending into obscurity.

Despite the glaring dichotomies in how their respective careers shaped up, Juniper and Athena kept in touch; after all, they lived in the same city and their circles were not as far-reaching. They were not primarily close but they still kept the pretenses. Their meetups skirt around personal matters. Juniper felt like Athena was only keeping her as a friend so that Athena will feel good about herself. She also did not obscure the fact that she was envious of Athena’s success. Athena has all the things that Juniper dreamed of. Things came ahead when, during one of their meetups, Athena passed away from an innocuous freak accident: she choked while eating a hotdog.

Athena’s sudden death, however, came with more implications. During this meetup, Athena showed her recently completed manuscript about the role played by Chinese laborers during the First World War. This was going to be her latest novel, one that she deemed would be her magnum opus. In itself, Athena showing Juniper her manuscript was an interesting turn of events; Athena was notorious for not showing her works to anyone, including her literary agents until her works were finished. Juniper was immediately impressed by the premise, followed by a recognition that the novel was going to consolidate Athena’s heritage. The events following Athena’s death were the novel’s primary driver.

“For the first time since I submitted the manuscript, I feel a deep wash of shame. This isn’t my history, my heritage. This isn’t my community. I am an outsider, basking in their love under false pretenses. It should be Athena sitting here, smiling with these people, signing books and listening to the stories of her elders.”

~ R.F. Kuang, Yellowface

In a gripping tale, Kuang takes her readers into the world of publishing. Yellowface unpacked several seminal and timely subjects that have become integral parts of contemporary discussions. The most prevalent of these subjects revolve around cultural appropriation and the discussion of “own voices”. Cultural authenticity was prominently examined in the novel. This is a discussion sparked by the question of who should write about a certain event, especially if the subject carries cultural contexts and implications. Recently, several books have been scrutinized because of the “own voices” discourse. A recent example was Jeanine Cummins’ American Dirt which flirted with controversy. The premise itself – it examined the Mexican diaspora – was common enough. Cummins’ white background, however, raised questions on cultural authenticity.

With the rise of discourse on cultural authenticity and cultural appropriation, the inevitable question then rises: who has the right to tell or write a story? As Yellowface underlined, such discourses cannot be entirely dismissed. On the flip side, the novel does not entirely discourage the idea of writers writing about subjects that are not native to them. They can reinforce their stories with thorough research and study. These are possible, particularly with how information can easily be accessed nowadays. Relative to this discourse, cultural sensitivity checks have become ubiquitous. Independent and objective reviewers are employed to go over these books.

The role of literary criticism in the vast ecosystem of writing and publishing was also highlighted in the novel. Literary criticism is ubiquitous and has become synonymous with every published work; after all, criticism is part and parcel of every form of art. However, with the advent of social media came the rise of different forms of literary criticism. Once relegated to literary magazines and prominent publications, literary criticism has been proliferated by micro-blogging, book-tube, book Twitter, Bookstagram, and more recently BookTok. The rise of social media saw the rise of avenues in which one can share one’s opinions, insights, and thoughts on a plethora of subjects.

It is unfortunate that in recent times, the quality of literary criticism dipped. Originally designed to foster a well-balanced ecosystem for writing and literature, at least where constructive criticism is concerned, it has become a battleground for forwarding selfish agenda. Goodreads, self-marketed as the “world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations”, was prominently featured in the novel. Literary agents and editors wisely advise writers to keep off reading reviews on Goodreads. Anonymous reviewers can leave scathing and unfounded reviews. Review bombing, where groups of reviewers unanimously one-star or pervasively negative reviews, has also become a vogue. While there are still conscientious reviewers, toxicity has defeated and corroded the real aim of literary criticism.

“The wildest thing about all this is that even now I cannot stop composing. I’m trying to funnel this awfulness into something lovely. My salacious roman à clef will become a horror novel. My terror will become my readers’ terror. I will take my fugue state of delirious panic and compost it into a fertile bed of creativity — for aren’t all the best novels borne from some madness, which is borne from truth?”

~ R.F. Kuang, Yellowface

The subjects Yellowface underlined, however, went beyond the ambit of the publishing industry. A work of satire, the novel was a scathing commentary on the space that social media have occupied in our lives. While it plays a seminal role in raising awareness of timely and pressing social concerns, it has also become a convenient tool to convey arbitrary opinions. At times, these opinions deliberately discredit an individual or a work of art. Because of the advent of social media, it has become more convenient to pass judgment on an individual sans any credible proof. We have become too quick to call out and cancel a person online. We have become too chronically online.

Cancel culture has become prevalent and it can be harrowing for individuals who are being canceled without any reason. One character remarked that “Reputations in publishing are built and destroyed, constantly, online.” The sad part is that very few individuals will go as far as performing fact-checking or due diligence. Other seminal subjects concerning the publishing industry explored by the novel include diversity, bigotry, and racism that persist in the industry. Writers with different heritages are also pigeonholed. As such, a Cambodian writer is expected to write about his or her experiences in Cambodia. It is his or her brand. The novel also took the readers through the intricacies of the creative process. It can be complex and can also be simple as ideas come in different forms, such as random daily passages or keen observations.

In a way, the novel is a reversal of the concern surrounding how writers of other heritage are often treated second class. For the longest time, writers of other heritage fought for their place in publishing. What will happen if a white woman will try to pass as a member of the yellow race? As a primary character, Juniper was unlikeable. Kuang even admitted that she relished the idea of conjuring a character who the readers will disdain. Sure enough, Juniper was the quintessence of an unlikeable character. She can be indecisive and her thought process can be repetitive. At times, she was passive and let things happen around her. Athena was also a compelling character. She was also problematic but Kuang barely dipped into her psychological profile. There was, however, a layer of superficiality around the reasons – her beauty, privileged background, and mere jealousy – for the dislike Athena received from her detractors.

Kuang’s first foray outside of the realms of fantasy, Yellowface is a riveting story about the publishing industry, literature, and even the intricacies of friendship. At its heart, it is the story of the lengths we go to achieve the dream we have always yearned for. In Juniper’s story, we read the story of a young woman who can barely move forward in her career due to the fact that she has been pigeonholed because of her race. The novel covered a plethora of subjects that is attuned to the concerns of the publishing industry while also underlining the toxic environment that social media has created. Yellowface was not without its faults – it wasn’t able to fully address some of the concerns it raised – but it was nevertheless a compelling read.

“Writing is the closest thing we have to real magic. Writing is creating something out of nothing, is opening doors to other lands. Writing gives you power to shape your own world when the real one hurts too much. To stop writing would kill me. I’d never be able to walk through a bookstore without fingering the spines with longing, wondering at the lengthy editorial process that got these titles on shelves and reminiscing about my own.“

~ R.F. Kuang, Yellowface
Book Specs

Author: Rebecca F. Kuang
Publisher: William Morrow
Publishing Date: 2023
Number of Pages: 319
Genre: Literary

Synopsis

Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena’s a literary darling. June Hayward is literally nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.

So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.

So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song – complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That’s what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.

But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface grapples with questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, as well as the terrifying alienation of social media. R.F. Kuang’s novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.

About the Author

Rebecca F. Kuang was born in Guangzhou, China on May 29, 1996. Her family has strong connections to modern Chinese history. Her maternal grandfather fought for Chiang Kai-shek while her father’s family experienced the Japanese conquest of Hunan. Kuang’s family moved to the United States when she was four years old. She was raised in Dallas, Texas, and graduated from Greenhill School in 2013.

At Georgetown University, she majored in history. In 2016, she graduated from the Odyssey Writing Workshop. A year later, she attended the CSSF Novel Writing Workshop. In June 2018, she graduated from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. A recipient of a 2018 Marshall Scholarship, Kuang attended Magdalene College, Cambridge where she earned a Master of Philosophy in Chinese studies. Shortly after earning her Master, she studied at University College, Oxford, and received an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies. In 2020, she returned to the United States to pursue a Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Literature at Yale University.

In 2018, Kuang published her debut novel, The Poppy War. She started working on the novel halfway through college, during a gap year in China where she worked as a debate coach. A year later, the sequel to the novel, The Dragon Republic, was published. The Burning God, published in 2020, completed the trilogy. Her fourth novel, Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution was published in 2021. Her latest novel, Yellowface, was published in 2023. While working on her Ph.D., Kuang is also working on her sixth novel. She also wrote short stories and nonfiction work which appeared in anthologies and literary magazines.

Kuang’s novels earned her several accolades. The Poppy War was a finalist for the 2018 Nebula Award for Best Novel, Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel, and World Fantasy Award—Novel. The Dragon Republic, on the other hand, won the 2019 Crawford Award and Compton Crook Award. Her first two novels were also included in Time Magazine’s The 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time (2020). Babel won the 2022 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 2023 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel.