Rethinking Realisms through the Writings of Eileen Chang

Studies of Asian American writing during the Cold War are often guided by historical approaches that focus on the pressures of assimilation during the period. For Chinese Americans in particular, the tension between the United States and the People's Republic of China led to increased surveillance as the government cracked-down on illegal immigrants as well as those with progressive sympathies. At the same time, a number of prominent writers and thinkers immigrated to the United States in the aftermath of the Communist victory in China. By focusing on one such figure, Eileen Chang (Zhang Ailing, 1920-1995), this essay seeks to excavate a chapter of Asian American literary history that has received little critical attention thus far.