Yellowface - Entry 1
May 8, 2024 * literature, yellowface * part 7
Contents
The novel Yellowface opens with June Hayward, a struggling white writer, who has to grapple with the success of fellow Yale graduate Athena Liu, an Asian-American writer who quickly amassed flaim and critical acclaim following her author debut.
June constantly deals with her jealousy and bitterness of Athena, and gripes that her success is due to Athena being “diverse”, which is why the industry pushes her so much. One night, they’re hanging out together at Athena’s apartment, drunk, and Athena chokes on a pancake and dies. In the panic that follows, June steals Athena’s unpublished manuscript—a novel about Chinese laborers during World War I.
She initially finishes the book as a writing exercise, but upon growing more and more invested into the story, she decides to publish it as her own, under a new name: “Juniper Song”. She rationalizes that Athena wouldn’t have wanted her manuscript to be unpublished anyways, and that she was actually doing her a service. June sends her book to her editor, who gets it taken up by a reputable indie publisher. She’s suggested to get a sensitivity reader, but declines strongly. Upon publishing, to her delight, June quickly catapults into literary fame.
Analysis/Reflection
The book starts off quick, and we’re immediately introduced into Kuang’s descriptive and borderline satirical prose—setting the tone for the rest of the text. Athena is described by June as someone distant, unreachable, and almost perfect, but I feel like it’s a way that dehumanizes her, turns her into a mere object of fame, and disregards the still very real human emotions that she must be feeling. We can assume that June is Athena’s only real friend, and that she rarely has the time to be open or vulnerable to anyone, and we see a glimpse of this up until she dies, hinting that she was dealing with more than she let on. June, however, blinded by her jealousy, fails to see this.
It’s amazing how insufferable June is from the beginning, but her rationalization almost makes sense, and I can tell how she is able to delude herself that easily. While Athena isn’t the main character to be developed in this text, I would’ve liked to see more of her and her interactions with June.
The book gives me a look into the functioning of the publishing industry, showing problems that Kuang herself might have experienced herself.
We’re also exposed to June’s own racial bias that she’s oftentimes blind to, shown when she states that “that’s how this industry works. Publishing picks a winner - someone attractive enough, someone cool and young and, oh, we’re all thinking it, let’s just say it, “diverse” enough” (Kuang, Yellowface, 5). June's hatred of how the publishing industry supposedly "pushes" authors from marginalized backgrounds is ironic, and shows that she doesn't recognize and understand her own privilege as a white woman, in a field that, despite having authors from underrepresented backgrounds, is still one dominated by white people.