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Coming Out of My Skin
Jean-Baptiste Phou
Seagull Books, 2023
A compelling memoir that focuses on the intersectionality of race and sexuality experienced by a gay Asian man living in a white world.
 
Born to Chinese-Cambodian parents in France, Jean-Baptiste Phou has pursued a diverse artistic career since 2008. Through his public views and artistic works, he has focused mainly on the experiences of Asians in France. Up until now, he’s always been careful not to raise issues of sexuality—in particular, his homosexuality.
 
In this searing memoir, Phou faces his fears and shame to examine the role his ethnic origin has played in the construction of his sexual identity and his romantic relationships in a predominantly white environment. An astute observer of the various ways in which his body has been perceived, Phou explores how these perceptions have shaped his relationship with himself and others. How does a marginalized person develop emotionally and build, reclaim, and express their sexuality? Drawing on various works of history, sociology, gender studies, literature, and popular culture, Phou sensitively examines various strategies developed in response to this question.
 
Being gay in a largely straight world is difficult but being Asian within this sexual minority can be a doubly oppressive experience. Coming Out of My Skin deftly tackles this challenge and aspires for a reconciliation that can empower people of sexual and racial minorities to joyfully inhabit their bodies.
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front cover of Out of This World
Out of This World
Speculative Fiction in Translation from the Cold War to the New Millennium
Rachel S. Cordasco
University of Illinois Press, 2021
The twenty-first century has witnessed an explosion of speculative fiction in translation (SFT). Rachel Cordasco examines speculative fiction published in English translation since 1960, ranging from Soviet-era fiction to the Arabic-language dystopias that emerged following the Iraq War. Individual chapters on SFT from Korean, Czech, Finnish, and eleven other source languages feature an introduction by an expert in the language's speculative fiction tradition and its present-day output. Cordasco then breaks down each chapter by subgenre--including science fiction, fantasy, and horror--to guide readers toward the kinds of works that most interest them. Her discussion of available SFT stands alongside an analysis of how various subgenres emerged and developed in a given language. She also examines the reasons a given subgenre has been translated into English.

An informative and one-of-a-kind guide, Out of This World offers readers and scholars alike a tour of speculative fiction's new globalized era.

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