"A wonderfully resplendent evocation of a newcomer's America" (Chang-rae Lee, author of Native Speaker) by the father of Korean American literature A Penguin Classic Having fled Japanese-occupied Korea for the gleaming promise of the United States with nothing but four dollars and a suitcase full of Shakespeare to his name, the young, idealistic Chungpa Han arrives in a New York teeming with expatriates, businessmen, students, scholars, and indigents. Struggling to support his studies, he travels throughout the United States and Canada, becoming by turns a traveling salesman, a domestic worker, and a farmer, and observing along the way the idealism, greed, and shifting values of the industrializing twentieth century. Part picaresque adventure, part shrewd social commentary, East Goes West casts a sharply satirical eye on the demands and perils of assimilation. It is a masterpiece not only of Asian American literature but also of American literature. Celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month with these three Penguin Classics: America Is in the Heart by Carlos Bulosan (9780143134039) East Goes West by Younghill Kang (9780143134305) The Hanging on Union Square by H. T. Tsiang (9780143134022)

East Goes West

Literature & Fiction

Kang, Younghill

Humor & Satire

Penguin Classics

Product Description A beautiful collectible hardcover edition of the father of Korean American literature's "wonderfully resplendent evocation of a newcomer's America" (Chang-rae Lee, author of Native Speaker)A Penguin Vitae EditionHaving fled Japanese-occupied Korea for the gleaming promise of the United States with nothing but four dollars and a suitcase full of Shakespeare to his name, the young, idealistic Chungpa Han arrives in a New York teeming with expatriates, businessmen, students, scholars, and indigents. Struggling to support his studies, he travels throughout the United States and Canada, becoming by turns a traveling salesman, a domestic worker, and a farmer, and observing along the way the idealism, greed, and shifting values of the industrializing twentieth century. Part picaresque adventure, part shrewd social commentary, East Goes West casts a sharply satirical eye on the demands and perils of assimilation. It is a masterpiece not only of Asian American literature but also of American literature.Penguin Vitae―loosely translated as "Penguin of one's life"―is a deluxe hardcover series from Penguin Classics celebrating a dynamic and diverse landscape of classic fiction and nonfiction from seventy-five years of classics publishing. Penguin Vitae provides readers with beautifully designed classics that have shaped the course of their lives, and welcomes new readers to discover these literary gifts of personal inspiration, intellectual engagement, and creative originality. Review “A Nabokovian stylistic tour de force.” —Alexander Chee, author of The Queen of the Night and How to Write an Autobiographical Novel“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“Thrillingly timeless . . . The finest, funniest, craziest, sanest, most cheerfully depressing Korean-American novel . . . A vast, unruly masterpiece that is our earliest portrait of the artist as a young Korean-American . . . East Goes West’s tumbling prose and loose, picaresque structure feel amazingly ‘free and vigorous’ (per [Thomas] Wolfe) today. . . . The novelist and memoirist Alexander Chee’s rousing introduction to the new Penguin Classics edition . . . argues strongly for its relevance today. . . . Its value is in the heady mix of high and low, the antic yet clear-eyed take on race relations, the parade of tragic and comic bit players, and above all, the unleashed chattering of Chungpa’s distinctive voice. . . . The Penguin edition . . . reminds us of how excellent [Kang] really was. . . . This brash modernist comic novel still feels electric.” —Ed Park, The New York Review of Books“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.” —The New York Times Book Review “An immigrant epic that criss-crosses a less-than-welcoming American landscape . . . Thirty-year-old bestseller The Joy Luck Club perennially provides irrefutable proof Asian American stories warrant shelf space. That Penguin Classics—their venerable list considered a significant barometer of what comprises the Anglophone literary canon—has added this . . . is, undoubtedly, long-awaited, long-deserved recognition.” —The Christian Science Monitor“Kang is a born writer, everywhere he is free and vigorous: he has an original and poetic mind, and he loves life.” —Thomas Wolfe“After Mr. Kang, most books seem a bit flat. . . . What a man! What a writer!” —Re

East Goes West (Penguin Vitae)

Text: English, German (translation)

The Grass Roof and The Yalu Flows: Two autobiographies of early childhood and young manhood days in Korea at the beginning of the century (The Norton Library, N766) (English and German Edition)

Yi, Mi-Ruk

W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.

Fiction. Asian-American Studies. "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. Having fled Japanese-occupied Korea for the gleaming promise of the United States, Han lands in New York with only four dollars and a suitcase full of Shakespeare to his name. Struggling to support his studies, Han becomes by turns traveling salesman, domestic worker, and farmer. In the process, he observes the idealism, greed, and shifting values of the industrializing twentieth century. In its beautifully nuanced portrayal of Han's spiritual evolution and revolutions, its richly detailed examination of a cosmopolitan immigrant subculture, and its biting portraits of racism, alienation, and hypocrisy at every level of society, EAST GOES WEST is a unique American classic.

East Goes West: The Making of an Oriental Yankee

United States

Kaya Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kang, Younghill. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Kang, Younghill

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kang, Younghill. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

East Goes West

East Goes West (Penguin Vitae)

The Grass Roof and The Yalu Flows: Two autobiographies of early childhood and young manhood days in Korea at the beginning of the century (The Norton Library, N766) (English and German Edition)

East Goes West: The Making of an Oriental Yankee