The Woman Warrior
First edition
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| Author | Maxine Hong Kingston |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | memoir, autobiography, Chinese folk tale |
| Publisher | Knopf |
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Publication date
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1976 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 209 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 19756897 |
| 979.4/053/092 B 22 | |
| LC Class | CT275.K5764 A33 1989 |
The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts is a memoir, or collection of memoirs, written by Chinese American author Maxine Hong Kingston and published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1976. Although there are many scholarly debates surrounding the official genre classification of the book, it can best be described as a work of creative nonfiction.
Throughout the book's five chapters, Kingston blends autobiography with old Chinese folktales. What results is a complex portrayal of the 20th century experiences of Chinese-Americans living in the U.S in the shadow of the Chinese Revolution.
The Woman Warrior has been reported by the Modern Language Association as the most commonly taught text in modern university education. It has been used in disciplines as far-reaching as American literature, anthropology, Asian studies, composition, education, psychology, sociology, and women's studies. It won the National Book Critics Circle Award and was named one of TIME magazine's top nonfiction books of the 1970s.
The specific genre of The Woman Warrior has been disputed due to Kingston's blend of perspectives, specifically traditional Chinese folktale and memoir. With this mixture, Kingston tries to provide her audience with the cultural, familial, and personal context needed to understand her unique position as a first-generation Chinese-American woman.
Friedman's assessment of autobiography with regard to women and minority groups explains Kingston's intricate blend of perspective and genre: women and cultural minorities often don't have the privilege of viewing themselves as individuals isolated from their gender or racial group. Kingston illustrates this condition through her use of Chinese talk-story, her mother's traditional Chinese perspective, and her own first-person view as a Chinese American.
The book is divided into five interconnected chapters, which read like short stories.
The story was originally published in 1975 as the first of five stories included in a book by Kingston called The Woman Warrior. There are three characters in this section:
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