An Ethics of Betrayal

The Politics of Otherness in Emergent U.S. Literatures and Culture

Crystal Parikh

• Publisher: American Literatures Initiative
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9780823230433, 9780823230426
• eBook ISBN: 9780823230440
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: North American Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

In An Ethics of Betrayal, Crystal Parikh investigates the theme and tropes of betrayal and treason in Asian American and Chicano/Latino literary and cultural narratives. In considering betrayal from an ethical perspective, one grounded in the theories of Emmanuel Levinas and Jacques Derrida, Parikh argues that the minority subject is obligated in a primary, preontological, and irrecusable relation of responsibility to the Other. Episodes of betrayal and treason allegorize the position of this subject, beholden to the many others who embody the alterity of existence and whose demands upon the subject result in transgressions of intimacy and loyalty. In this first major comparative study of narratives by and about Asian Americans and Latinos, Parikh considers writings by Frank Chin, Gish Jen, Chang-rae Lee, Eric Liu, Américo Parades, and Richard Rodriguez, as well as narratives about the persecution of Wen Ho Lee and the rescue and return of Elian González. By addressing the conflicts at the heart of filiality, the public dimensions of language in the constitution of minority "community, " and the mercenary mobilizations of "model minority" status, An Ethics of Betrayal seriously engages the challenges of conducting ethnic and critical race studies based on the uncompromising and unromantic ideas of justice, reciprocity, and ethical society.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• 1 Introduction: An Ethics of Betrayal
• 2 Late Arrivals: An Ethics of Betrayal in Racial and National Formation
• 3 Accidents and Obligations: Minority Neoconservatives and U. S. Racial Discourse
• 4 Ethnic America Undercover: The Intellectual and Minority Discourse
• 5 The Passion: The Betrayals of Elián González and Wen Ho Lee
• Epilogue: The Traitors in Our Midst
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index