August 28, 2006
The Stories of Maxine Hong Kingston Interview
This new PBS Video offering is appealing on a variety of levels. It offers a portrait of Maxine Hong Kingston, author of the two nonfictional works, The Woman Warrior and China Men, and Tripmaster Monkey (her first novel). The first half-hour of the tape focuses on the autobiographical influences in Hong Kingston’s writing, such as her poet-father, her early feminist anger, and so on. Bill Moyers introduces the author, stating that her books are currently “the most widely taught on any American campus, more than any other American author.” It is on this note that Hong Kingston begins to elaborate upon one of the main themes in her writing, the portrayal of the Chinese-American experience as a facet of the total American experience. She finds that the tendency to view Chinese culture as “exotic” denies “mystery” to others, and that the issues raised in her writings transcend the specifics of her heritage and apply to many ethnic groups. Thus, the program also speaks to the richness that the many groups in the American “melting pot” have brought to this country’s culture as each has found what Hong Kingston calls their “voice” - the music of African Americans, for example - or the playful, fun-loving “monkey spirit” that the Chinese have introduced to balance Puritan seriousness. This author’s thoughts on the human imagination (”A good strong imagination doesn’t go off into some wild fantasy of nowhere; it goes to the truth”) and her thorough examination of literary form and content provide insight into the craft of writing, making this video ideal for literature collections. 
A former student at Berkeley in the 1960s, Hong Kingston retains many of the values she formed during that period and still believes her role as an author is to change the world - albeit now “one word at a time.” Although essentially a single-frame interview format, the pace never seems to slacken. Hong Kingston is as expressive and articulate in person as she is in her writing. Bill Moyers continues to have the knack of moving ideas along, often inspiring this author to make certain points but never becoming intrusive. The division of the tape into two segments is not disruptive; rather, the pause allows for a smooth transition in topics. Like numerous other video series hosted by Moyers, such as The Power of the Word, or Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth (see reviews in VRG, Winter and Fall 1990) and such author interviews as one with Toni Morrison, the production quality is exceptional.The Stories of Maxine Hong Kingston is very highly recommended for all collections.
From: Anderson, Kathy. Rev. of A World of Ideas with Bill Moyers: The Stories of Maxine Hong Kingston, Parts 1 and 2. ABC-CLIO Video Rating Guide for Libraries. UCB Media Resources Center Website. 25 July 1996. 28 August 2006. http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/MaxineKingston.html.
Excerpts
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How do you find beauty and order when we’ve had this bloody, horrible past? (3:07)
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On art, tragic events, the story “No Name Woman” from The Woman Warrior, family secrets, publication. Discussion: How does Kingston view the role of art, in relation to tragic events? |
| Where’s my community? (2:35) | On the political, Whitman Ah Sing from Tripmaster Monkey as an American figure, community. Discussion: Kingston remarks that the question “How do you have a communal village?” is a theme in her writings. What challenges to building such a communal village are represented in Kingston’s works? |
| There are parts of that story that I left out, on purpose. (3:03) | On the Fa Mulan story in The Woman Warrior, feminist writing, the ancient tellers of the story, war, woman. Discussion: How would you render the Fa Mulan story if you were asked to write a new version of it? |
| Growing up means gaining the ability to carry ideas forth into the world. (2:03) | On growing up, Tripmaster Monkey, readers, Whitman Ah Sing as liberal arts major. Discussion: What is unique about Tripmaster Monkey, as a bildungsroman, in light of Kingston’s comments about growing up? |
| We ought to offend them. (4:10) | On Whitman Ah Sing’s offensiveness, racism, stereotypes of Asian Americans. Discussion: What motivates the production of Asian American stereotypes? What stakes are involved in breaking such stereotypes? |
| A way for those heroes not to use the means of the gun. (1:59) | On guns; the task of writers, thinkers, and visionaries; nonviolence; the form of the short story. Discussion: If there is violence in Kingston’s stories, what appears to be its function and how might readers respond to the author’s treatment of it? |
| I still believe we can change the world. (2:31) | On imagined worlds, changing the world, language, China Men. Discussion: What other changes do Kingston’s works envision? |