A wonderfully resplendent evocation of a newcomer's America (Chang-rae
Lee, author of Native Speaker) by the father of Korean American
literature
A Penguin Classic
Having fled Japanese-occupied Korea for the gleaming promise of the
United States with nothing but four dollars and a suitcase full of
Shakespeare to his name, the young, idealistic Chungpa Han arrives in a
New York teeming with expatriates, businessmen, students, scholars, and
indigents. Struggling to support his studies, he travels throughout the
United States and Canada, becoming by turns a traveling salesman, a
domestic worker, and a farmer, and observing along the way the idealism,
greed, and shifting values of the industrializing twentieth century.
Part picaresque adventure, part shrewd social commentary, East Goes
West casts a sharply satirical eye on the demands and perils of
assimilation. It is a masterpiece not only of Asian American literature
but also of American literature.
Celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month
with these three Penguin Classics:
America Is in the Heart by Carlos Bulosan (9780143134039)
East Goes West by Younghill Kang (9780143134305)
The Hanging on Union Square by H. T. Tsiang (9780143134022)
