Feminism and Metafiction :

1. Feminismand Metafiction: The Distortion of Reality, Construction of History, and Intertextuality in Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior

2. Thesis • While some existing critiques sees The Woman Warrior as a token Asian text which perpetuates exotifying and Orientalist notions of Asian identity, I am arguing that the text must be understood in its own tradition, counteracting the reductionist appropriation of the text as part of the multicultural American academy. Further, I argue that a metafictional reading of The Woman Warrior creates space for and is closely linked to an Asian American feminist perspective of the themes in The Woman Warrior.

3. Outline • Introduction • Overview • Addressing Existing Critique • Metafiction • Intertextuality • Distortion of Reality • Construction of History • Conclusion

4. Intertextuality • Chapter 2, “White Tigers,” focuses on the popular Chinese folklore of Fa Mu Lan. • Fiction versus memoir? • Textual evidence [clouds as “an ink wash,” “distant peaks as if shaded by pencil,” rocks like “charcoal rubbings,” and a bird as “two black strokes”( 20)].

5. Challenging Stereotypes • Dismantling binaries • Subverting familiar stereotypes • Creating a complex representation of Asian women

6. Conclusion • A metafictional reading of The Woman Warrior creates space for and is closely linked to a feminist analyses of its themes.