On this page: Reference Works / Books / Internet Resources / Periodicals / Citing Sources / Loans from Other Libraries

Chinese-American literature refers to the work by Americans of Chinese ancestry, written exclusively in English. Since most of the Chinese-American literature focus on the life of Chinese Americans, background information on this ethnic group is also provided here.

Reference Works

The Asian American Almanac. 1995 Ref. E184.06 A824 1995
Apart from sections on Asian American ethnic groups and issues concerning with them, there is a section on Asian American literature and writers.

The Asian American Encyclopedia. 1995 Ref. E184.06 A827 1995
More than 2000 entries cover the histories and cultures of Asian American minorities, as well as their achievements in various fields. An invaluable source for information on Asian Americans.

Asian Americans Information Directory.1992 Ref. E184.06 .A75 1992
A guide to organizations, agencies, institutions, programs, publications, and services concerned with Asian American nationalities and ethnic groups in the U.S.

The Mookini Library has numerous books on Asian Americans, and books on Chinese Americans make up a large portion of this collection. These books can be found using "asian and america?" or "chinese and america?". (The wildcard ‘?’ retrieves "America," "American," and "Americans.")

According to the Library of Congress, the Chinese-American literature falls within the division of American literature, which has call numbers beginning with "PS." Keywords of "Chinese American literature" or "Asian American literature" can be used to find related books.

Anthologies

Aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Asian-American writers. Chin, Frank et al. ed. 1974    PS508 A8 A4

The Big Aiiieeeee!: An Anthology of Chinese American and Japanese American Literature. Chan, Jeffery Paul et al. ed. 1991     PS508.A8 B54 1991

Breaking Silence: An Anthology of Contemporary Asian American Poets. Bruchac, Joseph. ed. 1983     PS591.A8 B7 1983

Charlie Chan is Dead: An Anthology of Contemporary Asian American Fiction. Hagedorn, Jessica ed. 1993     PS647.A75 C48 1993

Growing up Asian American: An Anthology. Hong, Maria ed. 1993     PS508.A8 G76 1993

The Open Boat: Poems from Asian America. Hongo, Garrent ed. 1993     PS591.A76 O6 1993

Premonitions: the Kaya Anthology of New Asian North American Poetry. Lew, Walter K. ed. 1995     PS591.A76 P7 1995

Bibliography

Cheung, Kink-kok and Yogi, Stan. Asian American Literature: An Annotated Bibliography. 1988    Ref. PS153.A84 C43 1988

Asian-American Authors. Hsu, Kai-yu and Helen Palubinskas ed. 1976     PS508 O7 H8 1976

Asian-American Women Writers. Bloom, Harold ed. 1997     Ref. PS153.A84 A83 1997

Kim, Elaine H. Asian American Literature: An Introduction to the Writings and Their Social Context. 1982     PS153.A84 K55 1982

Ling, Amy. Between Worlds: Women Writers of Chinese Ancestry. 1990     PS153.C45 L56 1990

Reading the Literature of Asian America. Lim, Shirley Geok-lin and Amy Ling ed. 1992    PS153.A84 R43 1992

Internet Resources

Asian American Literature: Sources for Research

The Asian American Writer’s Workshop

Voice of the Shuttle -- Asian American

Periodicals

Mookini library has the following print journals that cover Asian American literature.

Amerasia Journal
Holdings: 1971 (v.1) - , current issue displayed: D

MELUS -- The Journal of the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States
Holdings: 1981 (v.8, no.4) - , current issue displayed: PN

Finding Periodical Articles

The library subscribes to about 1,100 periodicals in print format, and we have access to another 24,000 online journals. Use the "Find Periodicals" box located on the library's homepage to locate journals we have either in print or electronically.

Current issues of print periodicals are displayed on the Main Level behind the Reference area, arranged in broad subject areas. Most of our periodical backfiles are on the Upper Level, shelved alphabetically by title.

To find articles in periodicals on a specific topic, you need to use a periodical index. For research on literature, the best index we have is:

Academic Search Premier Provides many articles in full text. When full text is not available, abstracts are usually provided.

Other indexes to try:

• JSTOR A journal archive with full-text of over 200 older journals covering a wide range of topics.
• Book Review Digest
  Printed format, holdings: 1905 - 1999.
• Book Review Index
  Printed format, holdings: 1965 - 77, 1983 - 2004.

For articles in journals that we don't have, see "Loans from Other Libraries" below.

Citing Sources

MLA handbook for writers of research papers. 2003. This is a detailed reference book describing all of the MLA's requirements with respect to general format and citations.
Ref LB2369 .G53 2003. Another non-circulating copy at the Reference Desk; circulating copies in the general collection.

How to Cite Sources This UH Hilo Library page has links to web resources on citations. Make sure to check out "Research and Documentation Online" by Diana Hacker, which tells you how to cite most formats in MLA style.

Loans from Other Libraries

Books may be borrowed from other libraries in the UH System. Click here for more information.

Students may obtain copies of articles from journals to which the library does not subscribe through our intrasystem loan service.

Fees may apply.