Writing as Cultural Revenge: A Conversation with Elaine Hsieh Chou on her novel 'Disorientation'

TIME STAMP, SPOILERS FOR DISORIENTATION BEGIN AT: 33:20

We welcome Elaine Hsieh Chou (pronounced "Shay-Chow") to the podcast to talk about her debut novel, Disorientation. Her book is a hilarious satire on modern day college campus free speech wars, orientalism in academia, "yellow fever", the phenomenon of white scholars and translators devoting their entire lives to East Asian studies, and more. We talked to Elaine about a frequent topic of conversation in the NüVoices community: who has the right to tell whose stories?

Disorientation follows 29-year-old Ingrid Yang, a Taiwanese American PhD student who is on the struggle bus to finishing her dissertation on Xiaowen Chou (pronounced "Chow"), a deceased, renowned Chinese American poet.  After uncovering the dark truth of Chou's past, Ingrid's relationships with everyone she knows changes forever. From her academic advisor Michael, who specializes in Chinese art and poetry, to her fiancée Stephen, who is a translator of Japanese literature, Ingrid must confront "her sticky relationship to white men and white institutions—and, most of all, herself." (Source: https://www.elainehsiehchou.com/novel) 

Megan Cattel (our steadfast pod editor) hosts this episode.