A novel by Frank Chin
February 1, 1991 • 5.5 x 8.5 • 176 pages • 978-0918273-83-3
As twelve-year-old Donald Duk burns 108 model airplanes in mid-flight to celebrate the Chinese New Year, Frank Chin torches stereotypes of Asian-Americans.
Welcome to Chinatown, Chinese New Year in San Francisco. The day of the dog. The day of the thief. Everybody’s birthday. The lantern festival of the fifteenth day. Welcome home. Crashing Cantonese opera, dancing lions, comic book heroes, and a childhood among partying pagans . . . . Little Donald Duk is a twelve-year-old kid with everything, including a name he doesn’t like and a family who doesn’t deserve him. As he completes his first turn around the Chinese zodiac’s cycle of twelve animals, the Mandate of Heaven turns; he takes flight and dreams himself a home. As this novel opens, Donald Duk would rather be Fred Astaire than the son of a Chinatown restauranteur. Through the course of this robust, vigorous work, Donald learns to see himself more clearly as he, and we, see his culture free of distortive stereotypes.
About the Author
Frank Chin is the author of a collection of stories, The Chinaman Pacific & Frisco R.R. Co., and two novels, Donald Duk and Gunga Din Highway. The first Chinese-American to have a play produced on a New York stage, he is known for uncompromising portrayals of Chinese-Americans as well as for incorporation of Chinese mythology into his work. Frank Chin’s plays include The Chickencoop Chinaman and The Year of the Dragon, which was produced for PBS. He currently lives on I-5 between Los Angeles and all points north to Seattle.
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