Crossings

Hua's classic modernist novel from 1968 threads together the births, deaths, marriages, breakups and global relocations of an upper middle class Chinese-American family. The narrative focuses largely on the dreams and recollections of the middle daughter, Fourth Jane (birth order precedes one's name in familial address), as breaks with tradition undermine the family's cohesiveness. Firstborn son Fifth James, for one, flouts his father's orders and returns from the army with a non-Chinese bride in tow, while Jane moves to Paris despite her father's entreaties to stay. Hua, the pen name of Stella Yang Copley (1931–2000), writes in a muscular, free, indirect style (“Dyadya sat in his study and composed a letter. Dear James we are going to the Far East...”) that beautifully captures personal and cultural contradictions and conflicts. The strongest plot line tracks Jane's affair with a foreign journalist, but even this frequently dissolves into ambiguities and fragments. Work, here, is a balm for the disorientation Jane feels: on several occasions, Jane deals with insomnia by preparing elaborate meals for her lover, just as her mother later copes with grief by meticulously cleaning the house. This new edition of the reclusive writer's only known work will help bring Hua's novel the readership it deserves. (June)