This past summer, Humanities Center pedagogy grant recipient Ching-Hsuan Wu, associate professor of Applied Linguistics in the Department of World Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, used “Interior Chinatown” in a study abroad class that traveled to Taiwan. For our Asian American students on campus, representation matters – and this is one of the novel’s most powerful themes.” Most of my students have no direct experience of life in a tenement building in Chinatown, but through Charles Yu’s vision in ‘Interior Chinatown,’ readers can explore Willis Wu’s struggles with identity and acceptance. “We see the deep value of humanistic study everywhere through the Campus Read, in how the arts and literature imagine worlds and people far beyond the reach of our classrooms and our towns. The Campus Read books and the ideas they propose circulate in the wider community of the university and the world beyond, validating the importance of communal reading experiences and the spirited discussion of ideas,” Weihman said. “Teaching the Campus Read over the years has shown my students the value of the interpretive and analytic work they are doing in my classes. Lisa Weihman, an associate professor of 20th Century British and Irish Literature in the Department of English and a member of the Campus Read selection committee, is teaching the book in one of her Fall courses. However, the book is used in a variety of classroom settings. And all new faculty received a copy of the book. This year, more than a thousand honors students and all the English 101 and 102 students will be reading and discussing the book and its themes. Teaching the campus read outside the Introduction to Honors course is another important aspect of the Campus Read. Another incoming Honors College freshman, Emma Walker, created a TikTok video response to the Campus Read book, that showcased both her understanding of the book, and her personal connection to the story.Īdditionally, the WVU Chinese Club is integrating the novel into the group’s fall activities.
In the first podcast, he leads a discussion about “Interior Chinatown.” On his companion podcast, Liu interviews his grandfather on immigrating to the US. Rather than create a traditional essay for his Introduction to Honors course, incoming Honors freshman Andrew Tiu recorded two podcasts on Spotify. Students also have been engaging with this year’s Campus Read in unique ways.
This is a tool that instructors and students can use as they read and discuss the novel in their classrooms, clubs or in the comfort of their rooms.
SORRY PLEASE THANK YOU BY CHARLES YU USED HOW TO
Jay Malarcher, Theatre History and Criticism program director in WVU’s School of Theatre and Dance, has created an informative video about how to read the screenplay format of the novel. Hardesty Festival of Ideas in collaboration with the Humanities Center, which oversees selection, academic programming and other aspects of the Campus Read.Īlong with the author event, the Humanities Center has worked with units across campus and beyond to curate connected events and resources. To help excite the WVU community about this unique novel, which uses the form of a screenplay to narrate the story, author Charles Yu will virtually join students, faculty, staff and community members via Zoom on Sept. The screenplay format allows the novel to present a collective experience, one in which the characters express feeling as if they are invisible to the larger culture. “Interior Chinatown” employs the tropes of popular culture to critique the way Asian Americans experience American society and culture. “It balances the weight of these themes with a compelling protagonist and satirical humor.” “In choosing a book like ‘Interior Chinatown,’ we not only bring a book of outstanding literary merit to our campus, but one that challenges us to think deeply about aspects of race in America, of the roles we play, and of our sense of home, among many others,” WVU Humanities Center Director Renée Nicholson, who oversees the Campus Read, said. This year’s West Virginia University Campus Read, “Interior Chinatown” by Charles Yu, is inspiring students, faculty and staff to ponder race, stereotypes and, possibly, even the confines of achieving the American Dream through versatile coursework, events and social media.
Ching-Hsuan Wu (center) discusses “Interior Chinatown” with her students in a tea shop in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
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