The Phoenix That Dances Alone with the Body and the Spirit

Abstract

Through rich images, subtle sensibilities, and poetic language, Russell Charles Leong's book Phoenix Eyes and Other Stories portrays distinct traits of characters who have transgressed national and cultural borders only to find themselves (re)marginalized in terms of class, race, gender, or sexuality in a foreign land. The elaborate depictions of sex and the excessive images of the body, interwoven with religious meditation and settings of serene temples, create a symphony of the body and the spirit that opens up the compelling complexities of a different Asian America. An obvious attempt to disencumber itself from the cultural baggage of claiming Asian American specificity, this book registers a humane concern about the ethnic individual and seeks to extend the possibilities of Asian American identity. Three themes—including a concern for people marginalized in multiple ways, an emphasis on individuality instead of community, and an attempt to deploy sexuality as a strategy to dissolve constructed binari...