Self-paced
P1
With their recognition of Maxine Hong Kingston as a major literary figure, some critics have suggested that her works have been produced almost . ██ ███████ ██████ ████ ████ ████ █ █████ █████████ ████ ██ ██████ ████████ ███████████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ███████ ████████ ████████ ██ █████ ███ ████ ██ █████████ ███
Critics' perspective ·
Kingston's work doesn't seem to be based on prior Chinese American influences
Author's perspective ·
Critics overlook influence of "talk-story" on Kingston's work
Talk-story is a traditional Chinese form of oral narrative
P2
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History of talk-story ·
Ancient form of storytelling in China, rarely written, brought to U.S. by Chinese immigrants
Relevance to Kingston ·
Her literary work includes written adaptations of talk-story
P3
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Kingston's method ·
Builds narratives using key elements and themes drawn from memory
Contrast this with written storytelling traditions, in which telling a story right means getting the order of words right; Kingston seems more focused on getting the broader "shape" of the story right, rather than on the specific wording
Kingston's perspective ·
on writing down traditionally oral stories
Writing them down doesn't halt the oral tradition; stories can continue to change over time
P4
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Example of Kingston's work ·
"China Men" book
Book includes many characteristics of talk-story and can be considered a written form of talk-story
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Spotlight
20.
The author's specific purpose in █████████ ███████ ██████████ █████ █
a
show why Kingston's ████ █████ ███ ███████████ ███ ██ █ █████ ████████ ██████
Descriptively inaccurate. The author never attempts to explain why Kingston is a major literary figure. He just notes that she is, and then proceeds to spend the rest of the passage arguing that her work overall follows the talk-story tradition.
b
support the claim ████ ██████████ ███ ██ █████████ ████ ██████████ █████ ███ ████ █ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ █████████
The first sentence of P4 does two things: it outlines the oral-culture techniques characteristic of the talk-story, and asserts that one of Kingston’s books (China Men) uses those same techniques. The author’s trying to show that Kingston’s writing is in line with, and an extension of, the talk-story tradition.
c
dispute the critics' ████ ████ ███████ ████████ ██████████ █████ ████████ ███████████
Descriptively inaccurate. The critics’ view isn’t that Chinese American literature as a whole lacks literary antecedents. It’s just that Kingston’s work, specifically, lacks literary antecedents.
d
argue for Kingston's ████ ████ ███ ████████ ██████ ██ ██ ████ █ ███████████ ███████ ██ ███████
Descriptively inaccurate. Kingston’s view is that the literary artist is a “privileged keeper” of stories, but not that this is “at best” what a literary artist is. “At best” suggests that a literary artist is nothing more than a privileged keeper. And nothing in the passage indicates that Kingston believes that.
e
provide an alternative ██ ███████ ████████ ████ ████ ██████████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████ █████████ ██ ██████████
Descriptively inaccurate. The critics’ view has nothing to do with what Kingston’s work should be judged as. Their view is that Kingston’s work lacks literary antecedents.