East Goes West

by Younghill Kang

440pp | 1997 | Paperback | ISBN 9781885030115

Now available from Penguin-Random House. 

Originally published in 1937, East Goes West is an extraordinary account of immigrant life in the 1920s written by the first Korean American novelist, Younghill Kang. Part picaresque adventure, part shrewd social commentary, East Goes West casts a sharply satirical eye on the demands and perils of assimilation as it follows the travels of the young, idealistic Chungpa Han through the United States and Canada. In its moving humanization of the often neglected Asian communities on the fringes of industrialization, East Goes West is an American classic. It is an invaluable resource for those interested in immigrant narratives, Asian diasporas, and twentieth-century American literature. Kaya’s edition provides never before compiled supplementary materials on Kang’s life and work, including a comprehensive bibliography, an annotated chronology, and a critical essay.

praise

“Kang is a born writer, everywhere he is free and vigorous: he has an original and poetic mind, and he loves life.”
— Thomas Wolfe

“The story of Chungpa Han is truly, like the old New York he encounters, as ‘million-hued as a dream.’ A wonderfully resplendent evocation of a newcomer’s America, Younghill Kang’s classic novel is as vibrant and pointed in its vision today as it was 60 years ago, and may prove to be one of our most vital documents. East Goes West deserves rediscovery.”
— Chang-rae Lee, Author of Native Speaker

“Kang is as wide-awake and high-spirited as he is scholarly and thoughtful, and he writes with a keen sense of character…. East Goes West offers a rich largesse of color and flavor, personality and impression and event. It is one of those rare books which will arouse interest, ring changes on laughter and leave its residue of thought.”
— New York Times Book Review

“In a welcome new edition of the work of the father of Korean American literature, Kaya’s East Goes West is a stunning testament to Younghill Kang’s indomitable spirit, his perspicacious eye, and his special mirth. The book provides us with a rare view of how urban American life was experienced—and critiqued—by Korean immigrants in the 1920s.”
— Elaine Kim, University of California, Berkeley