Performing the Neoliberal Body: Alienation, Plenitude Fantasies, and the Ethics of the Public in Charles Yu's Interior Chinatown.
This article situates Charles Yu's Interior Chinatown (2020) at the nexus of Asian American literary history and neoliberal cultural critique. Reading the novel through Lacanian psychoanalysis and neoliberal theory, it demonstrates how Yu exposes the disciplinary scripts of adaptability and resilien...
| Publicado en: | Canadian Review of American Studies Vol. 55; no. 3; pp. 233 - 252 |
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| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | Literary Criticism |
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University of Toronto Press
Dec2025
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=190911459&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 190911459 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00077720 CRA jtl: Canadian Review of American Studies issn: 00077720 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Dec2025 vid: 55 iid: 3 pid: 678 pub: University of Toronto Press artinfo: ui: 190911459 10.3138/cras-2025-012 ppf: 233 ppct: 19 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 528KB tig: atl: Performing the Neoliberal Body: Alienation, Plenitude Fantasies, and the Ethics of the Public in Charles Yu's Interior Chinatown. aug: au: Chen, Fu-jen Yu, Su-lin affil: —Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan su: Neoliberalism in literature Interior Chinatown (Book) Yu, Charles, 1976- Asian American literature Social alienation in literature Ethics in literature Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 21st century (Literary period) sug: subj: Neoliberalism in literature Interior Chinatown (Book) Yu, Charles, 1976- Asian American literature Social alienation in literature Ethics in literature Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 21st century (Literary period) keyword: Alienation Charles Yu's Interior Chinatown Lacanian psychoanalysis neoliberalism aliénation Interior Chinatown de Charles Yu littérature asio-américaine néolibéralisme psychanalyse lacanienne ab: This article situates Charles Yu's Interior Chinatown (2020) at the nexus of Asian American literary history and neoliberal cultural critique. Reading the novel through Lacanian psychoanalysis and neoliberal theory, it demonstrates how Yu exposes the disciplinary scripts of adaptability and resilience that convert Asian bodies into fungible units of human capital under neoliberal multiculturalism. By tracing a genealogy from the Page and Chinese Exclusion Acts, through the Cold War "model minority" myth, to the twenty-first-century commodification of diversity, the essay shows how Willis Wu's ascent from "Background Oriental Male" to "Kung Fu Guy" dramatizes the conversion of racial identity into marketable performance. The analysis foregrounds five recurring "plenitude fantasies"—fatherhood, hybridity, familism, ethnic community, and diasporic nostalgia—that promise to cure alienation yet merely reiterate its structural impossibility and rehearse neoliberal multiculturalism's market logic. Embracing alienation as an ethical resource, the novel gestures toward a public solidarity grounded not in shared identity but in mutual estrangement. In so doing, Yu offers a critical blueprint for resisting the commodification of difference and for reclaiming Asian American literary discourse as a site of political possibility. Le présent article place le roman Interior Chinatown (2020) de Charles Yu au cœur de l'histoire de la littérature asio-américaine et de la critique de la culture néolibérale. La lecture du roman sous le prisme de la psychanalyse lacanienne et de la théorie néolibérale démontre que Yu expose les scénarios disciplinaires d'adaptabilité et de résilience qui convertissent les corps asiatiques en unités fongibles de capital humain conformes au multiculturalisme néolibéral. En remontant à l'origine de la Loi de Page et de la Loi sur l'exclusion des Chinois, en passant par le mythe de la « minorité modèle » de la guerre froide jusqu'à la marchandisation de la diversité du vingt et unième siècle, l'article démontre que l'ascension de Willis Wu d'«Asiatique de service » à «Mister Kung Fu» dramatise la conversion de l'identité raciale en une performance commercialisable. L'analyse présage cinq « fantasmes de plénitude » récurrents : la paternité, l'hybridité, le familisme, la communauté ethnique et la nostalgie envers la diaspora, qui promettent d'anéantir l'aliénation, mais se contentent plutôt d'en réitérer l'impossibilité structurelle et de reprendre la logique marchande néolibérale du multiculturalisme. En acceptant l'aliénation comme une ressource éthique, le roman tend vers une solidarité publique ancrée non pas dans une identité commune, mais dans une distanciation mutuelle. Yu propose ainsi un plan détaillé pour résister à la marchandisation de la différence et récupérer les discours sur la littérature asio-américaine afin qu'ils deviennent un chantier de possibilité politique. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Literary Criticism src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Canadian Review of American Studies is the property of University of Toronto Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Canadian Review of American Studies holder: University of Toronto Press dt: @attributes: year: 2025 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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