NüVoices Podcast #76: A Conversation with Elaine Hsieh Chou on her debut novel, Disorientation

TIME STAMP, SPOILERS FOR DISORIENTATION BEGIN AT: 33:20 We're delighted to have [@portabletext/react] Unknown block type "span", specify a component for it in the `components.types` prop (pronounced "Shay-Chow") come on the NüVoices podcast to discuss her debut novel, Disorientation, which came out earlier this year. Her book is a hilarious satire on modern day college campus free speech wars, orientalism in academia, "yellow fever", burnout, misogyny, and more. We talked to Elaine about a frequent topic of conversation in the NüVoices community: who has the right to tell whose stories?

Disorientation follows 29-year-old Ingrid Yang, a Taiwanese American PhD student who is on the struggle bus to finishing her dissertation on Xiaowen Chou, a deceased, renowned Chinese American poet. Frankly, she is sick of studying his poems about cranes, phoenixes, the rivers of his home village, and the taste of congee. After uncovering the dark truth of Chou's past, Ingrid's relationships with everyone she knows changes forever. From her academic advisor Michael, who specializes in Chinese art and poetry, to her fiancée Stephen, who is a translator of Japanese literature, Ingrid must confront "her sticky relationship to white men and white institutions—and, most of all, herself." ([@portabletext/react] Unknown block type "span", specify a component for it in the `components.types` prop).

Show notes:

[@portabletext/react] Unknown block type "span", specify a component for it in the `components.types` prop a [@portabletext/react] Unknown block type "span", specify a component for it in the `components.types` prop essay by Elaine about anti-Asian violence, and the misogyny + exoticism East Asian face around the world (The Cut)

The Hanging on Union Square by HT Tsiang

The Sellout by Paul Beatty

[@portabletext/react] Unknown block type "span", specify a component for it in the `components.types` prop a 2015 essay by Jenny Zhang on Michael Derrick Hudson (Buzzfeed)

[@portabletext/react] Unknown block type "span", specify a component for it in the `components.types` prop(NBC News)

Recommendations & self-care tips:

Elaine: "For self-care, it's been very hectic with the book tour but when I have time, I like to watch daily vlogs on YouTube that feel soothing and relaxing. My favorite channels are [@portabletext/react] Unknown block type "span", specify a component for it in the `components.types` prop, [@portabletext/react] Unknown block type "span", specify a component for it in the `components.types` prop and [@portabletext/react] Unknown block type "span", specify a component for it in the `components.types` prop. For a recommendation, it has to be the Apple+ show Severance! It's unlike anything I've seen, it's so imaginative and unsettling but also comic at times... I already want to watch it again."

Megan: "I highly recommend board member Rui Zhong's podcast, [@portabletext/react] Unknown block type "span", specify a component for it in the `components.types` prop! Rui, her sister, and their mother discuss the novel's successes, failings, and legacy each week. It's a wonderful intergenerational pod about Amy Tan's most well known book."

elainehsiehchouheadshot