Artwork by Nina Gruteser
A White man masquerading as a famous Chinese poet, a nerdy fiancé with an Asian fetish, and a conservative-turned-leftist Asian activist are all characters that are brought to life in Disorientation by Elaine Chou. This novel follows Ingrid, an 8th year PhD candidate as she struggles through endless pages of poetry she finds meaningless.The book, 416 pages of hilarious satire, opens up pathways to conversations that are often avoided regarding race and the AAPI community.
This includes racism in academia, represented by the main character Ingrid’s dissertation adviser, Michael Bartholomew. Bartholomew begins as a kind man, seemingly using his role as the head of the East Asian studies department to help Ingrid fulfill her goal of becoming a tenured professor at Barnes University. He encourages her to write her dissertation on a prominent alumnus of the university, poet Xiao-Wen Chou. Ingrid later learns that Bartholomew knew that the Chou, whom she had spent years researching, was not Chinese, but in fact a white man running around in yellow face. She decides to use her presentation to expose his covert racism, to which Bartholomew rebukes, “Yes, she really is that pathetic folks. A true specimen of the Oriental race. Meek.” (Chou 380).
Perhaps a more uncomfortable topic that the book grapples with is the fetishization of East Asian women. Ingrid begins the novel deeply in love with her fiance, a nerdy White man named Stephen whose job is translating Japanese literature into English. Ingrid believes he is fully in love with her for who she is, until she discovers that all of his past girlfriends were East Asian women. This causes her to spiral, rethinking all of the details of their past relationship. One detail stuck out against the rest, something that Ingrid had never thought much about before: Stephen liked her to dress up in a Japanese schoolgirl outfit when they slept together. In an article by Teen Vogue, writer Steffi Cao states, “From the tropes of the hypersexualized ‘dragon lady’ to the ‘mail-order bride,’ the image of Asian women in the West has typically been represented in the sexual, and strictly divided down the lines of a cunning prostitute-assassin, or a docile foreign wife.” These are the stereotypes that Ingrid learns she has been facing up against her entire life, even though growing up she just felt American.
A character that seemingly plays into the “docile foreign wife” character is Cixi, who is married to Bartholomew. She is submissive, never arguing with her husband and always doing what he asks. However, when Ingrid is looking for proof that Michael is involved with a scandal, Cixi jumps in to help, giving Ingrid access to Bartholomew’s private things. Ingrid later discovers that Cixi is only playing into stereotypes to avoid Bartholomew’s threats. Cixi’s character demonstrates how dangerous stereotypes can be, and how becoming dependent on a stereotype can backfire on the person who is perpetuating bigotry.
I find Disorientation to be so important because I see it in our everyday lives. For example, the movement to rid college campuses of Confederate statues and the purchase of Twitter in the name of free speech by Elon Musk both parallel the free speech movement spearheaded by Bartholomew in the novel. According to a report by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, in the week after Elon Musk bought Twitter, the amount of tweets using the n-word tripled the average of uses in 2022. The recent wave of yellow face on social media also parallels the East Asian fetishization in the novel. In Disorientation, Chou counters these events by satirizing people who perpetuate bigotry.
Everyone has something to learn from Chou’s writing. Disorientation is a book I will continue to think about as we move into the new year.
You can purchase Disorientation here. You can find Elaine Hsieh Chou here.