Abstract

Cathy Park Hong’s Minor Feelings (2020) is immediately intimate. There is a raw edge to the essays; the pervasive pressure of the white gaze is intense, pushing a ‘shiv of light’ into Hong’s prospective peace.1 Despite its characterisation as a collection of self-reflexive essays, there is a compelling narrative flow which guides the reader through the often-autobiographical elements of the book. The first-person perspective of the writing exposes the author, allowing the reader into painful moments in Hong’s life and career as well as providing insights into Asian American heritages and histories. Hong picks apart the careful web of shame, assimilation, racialisation and suppression that intersect to constitute a system of emotional undercurrents, the minor feelings of the book’s title. The ‘I’ of the writing has a lyric quality, and Hong's poetic voice colours the vivid and visceral tangents of the work.

Keywords: unfeeling, Cathy Park Hong, Minor Feelings, shame, suppression, lyric

How to Cite:

Jones, L. S., (2022) “Automation and Diminutions in Cathy Park Hong’s Minor Feelings”, Moveable Type 14(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.14324/111.1755-4527.135