The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Asian American Literature covers literature written from the late 1890s through 2007 by USA and Canadian writers of Asian descent. While most of the 272 entries focus on major authors, the encyclopedia also includes entries on influential literary works, genres, themes, important events and other topics. This wide range of subject coverage enhances the encyclopedia and provides valuable social, historical and political contexts for Asian American literature. As the editor Guiyou Huang, Professor of English at St. Thomas University, explains in the preface, there is a need for a “comprehensive reference tool that reflects the history, complexity, multiplicity and richness of Asian American literature” (p. xvii). This encyclopedia aims to be such a tool.
The entries are arranged alphabetically and vary in length from one to several pages. All entries include extensive references to other entries where appropriate and each concludes with a brief bibliography of sources for further reading. Author entries provide biographical information and brief critical reviews of their major works. Entries on literary works include reviews or analysis of the texts. There is no indication of how authors are selected for inclusion in the encyclopedia; however the literary works included were those deemed influential by the editor.
Each entry in the encyclopedia is signed by one of the 104 contributors, who are drawn from across the globe and are experts from a variety of disciplines. A list of contributors with brief biographical information can be found in the last volume. Because different specialists contributed the content, there are some variations in style for the entries. As an example, the entry for the anthology AIIIEEEEE! provides background information about this influential text, discusses the qualities that make it unique, and describes the initial public response to the text. In contrast, the entry for America is in the Heart (Bulosan) is a textual analysis that discusses each part of the work and the themes and issues covered in each section. Despite some style variation across entry types, the entries are very readable and provide valuable content.
In addition to the alphabetical arrangement of entries, there are several other ways to access content. The List of Entries is a brief alphabetical list of all entries divided by volume, providing a quick way to find specific content. The Guide of Topics is a list of sixteen broad categories, such as genres, social issues, and identity and stereotyping, and the entries that fall under each category; all entries in the work have been assigned to one or more appropriate topic. Both the List and the Guide appear at the beginning of each volume. Finally, the encyclopedia concludes with a comprehensive index and a bibliography of literary anthologies and secondary sources, appearing at the end of volume three.
Including such a wide range of content sets this three‐volume encyclopedia apart from other reference tools that focus on Asian American literature, which tend to be more specific, single‐genre, single‐volume works, such as Asian American Novelists (Nelson, 2000) or The Columbia Guide to Asian American Literature Since 1945 (Huang, 2006). Seiwoong Oh's Encyclopedia of Asian American Literature (Oh, 2007) has similar subject coverage, including entries on authors, seminal works, and themes, to the work reviewed here. Oh's encyclopedia, however, is a concise single‐volume format; whereas the Greenwood Encyclopedia of Asian American Literature is spread out over three volumes, has longer entries, and includes coverage of major events and important terms. For those seeking extensive coverage of Asian American authors, a closer comparison of these two encyclopedias in terms of the authors and works covered in each work would be worthwhile.
Overall, the Greenwood Encyclopedia of Asian American Literature is an approachable, easy to use encyclopedia that provides valuable research information and interdisciplinary contexts for Asian American literature. Students will find it a useful starting point for further study. Recommended for high school and undergraduate libraries.
