Conversations with Maxine Hong Kingston (Literary Conversations)
Compiling these 16 interviews with Kingston, dating from 1977 to 1996 and dealing with The Woman Warrior (LJ 9/15/76), China Men (LJ 6/15/80), and Tripmaster Monkey (LJ 4/1/89), seems like a great idea. However, without faulting either Kingston or the interviewers, this collection has more than a few flaws. Since Kingston cannot change her girlhood or the influences on her writing, and the interviewers cannot avoid asking about them, the same points get repeated endlessly; and Kingston's responses to her critics are not balanced by the inclusion of the criticism itself. Although Kingston proves articulate, generous, and patient in sharing her thoughts on a variety of subjects (e.g., the writing experience, peace, and being Asian), influences (e.g., William Carlos Williams, Virginia Woolf, and Walt Whitman), and her life, the excellent 20-page introduction summing up the interviews and the five-page chronology putting everything neatly in place seem quite sufficient. Recommended only for large public libraries.?Kitty Chen Dean, Nassau Coll., Garden City, NYCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.