Identity Politics in Sui Sin Far's Mrs. Spring Fragrance: Race and Gender Dynamics in “The Sing Song Woman” and “Its Wavering Image”

Abstract

This article examines Sui Sin Far9s work within a poststructuralist framework and argues for an elimination of binary structuralist politics when assessing ethnic literature and assigning ethnic identity. Sui Sin Far defies binary structuralist politics that violently circumscribe identities in her writing, which results in an endorsement of ambiguities pertaining to subjectivity, especially in relation to gender and race. This article also produces new close readings of two important short stories in Mrs. Spring Fragrance (1912) that are informed by recent scholarship on Sui Sin Far and identity politics.