Tripmaster Monkey by Maxine Hong Kingston

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Tripmaster Monkey by Maxine Hong Kingston

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Tripmaster Monkey by Maxine Hong Kingston

One of The Atlantic's Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years * From the acclaimed author of The Woman Warrior and China Men comes a novel centered on the life of a Chinese-American hippie and aspiring playwright as he explores the complexities of identity, culture, and artistic ambition.

"A dazzling leap of imaginative sympathy [and] narrative magic."--The New York Times Book Review


Wittman Ah Sing is a young Chinese-American hippie in San Francisco during the late sixties. Named after America's quintessential poet, indomitably garrulous and free-spirited, Wittman is as American as James Dean. Yet he also bears a strking resemblance to Monkey, the trickster-saint of Chinese legend who helped bring the Buddhist scriptures from India.

Driven by his dream of writing and staging an epic production of interwoven Chinese novels and folktales, Wittman embarks on an extraordinary journey through an era as fantastic as his ambition. Tripmaster Monkey is by turns surreal; exuberantly charged with spectacle, violence, and Chinese "talk-story"; and wildly, bitterly funny. Kingston's masterful storytelling brings to life the struggles and triumphs of a young man caught between two worlds on a quest for self-discovery and cultural reconciliation.

Kingston has published three novels and several nonfiction books about Chinese immigrants' experiences in the United States. She has won numerous accolades, including the National Book Award for her work China Men in 1981. President Bill Clinton presented the National Humanitarian Award in 1997. Despite her lack of artistic talent, she now spends more time painting than writing and likes the change of pace.

SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9780679727897
ISBN 10 0679727892
Title Tripmaster Monkey
Author Maxine Hong Kingston
Series Vintage International
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Paperback
Publisher Random House USA Inc
Year published 1990-06-10
Number of pages 352
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.