Authenticity and Appropriation: The Interplay of Identity and Representation of Diasporic Asian Female Authors in R.F. Kuang’s “Yellowface”
Authenticity and Appropriation: The Interplay of Identity and Representation of Diasporic Asian Female Authors in R.F. Kuang’s “Yellowface”
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Abstract
The discourse surrounding authenticity and appropriation in literature, especially within the context of diasporic Asian authors, has garnered significant attention in recent years. With the increasing visibility of Asian voices in contemporary Anglophone fiction, debates about who has the right to tell certain stories and how cultural identities are represented have intensified. These discussions frequently interrogate the boundaries between artistic license and cultural sensitivity, which raises complex questions about representation, authorship and power dynamics. R.F. Kuang’s Yellowface (2023) offers a provocative entry into these debates, as it critically examines the appropriation of Asian cultural narratives by non-Asian writers and the implications of such practices on perceptions of authenticity and identity in literature. This paper aims to analyse how Yellowface navigates the complex interplay of authenticity and appropriation by focusing on its portrayal of the diasporic Asian female identity within a predominantly Western literary framework. It explores how Kuang challenges traditional notions of authorship and cultural representation while grappling with the ethics of storytelling.
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