A beautiful collectible hardcover edition of the father of Korean
American literature's wonderfully resplendent evocation of a
newcomer's America (Chang-rae Lee, author of Native Speaker)
A Penguin Vitae Edition
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.
Penguin Vitae―loosely translated as Penguin of one's life―is a deluxe
hardcover series from Penguin Classics celebrating a dynamic and diverse
landscape of classic fiction and nonfiction from seventy-five years of
classics publishing. Penguin Vitae provides readers with beautifully
designed classics that have shaped the course of their lives, and
welcomes new readers to discover these literary gifts of personal
inspiration, intellectual engagement, and creative originality.
