Fae Myenne Ng
Fae Myenne Ng is an American author born in 1956 in San Francisco, California, known for her poignant explorations of the Chinese American experience. Raised in San Francisco's Chinatown by immigrant parents from China, Ng's writing reflects the cultural tensions between her assimilated identity and her parents' traditional values. Her debut novel, *Bone* (1993), took a decade to write and delves into the struggles of a Chinese American family, particularly focusing on the sacrifices made by the parents for their daughters amidst the challenges of immigrant life. The narrative highlights the complexities of identity faced by the daughters, especially through the tragic story of Ona, who struggles to reconcile her cultural heritage with American society.
Ng's second novel, *Steer Toward Rock* (2008), continues this exploration by following the life of an undocumented immigrant in 1950s San Francisco, addressing themes of labor, family, and the immigrant experience. Her 2023 autobiographical novel, *Orphan Bachelors*, tells the story of her father's immigration challenges and the racial prejudice faced by Chinese immigrants in the U.S. This work emphasizes the sacrifices made by immigrant men and their hopes for future generations. Ng's contributions to literature have been recognized with awards, and she actively engages in discussions about her works, often speaking at universities and literary events.
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Subject Terms
Fae Myenne Ng
- Born: 1956
- Birthplace: San Francisco, California
Author Profile
Fae Myenne Ng’s writing depicts a cultural divide between her assimilated generation and that of her Chinese parents. Reared in San Francisco’s Chinatown by working-class parents who emigrated from China, Ng received degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University. Bone (1993), her first novel, took her ten years to write, during which time she supported herself as a server and temporary worker and with a grant from the National Foundation for the Arts. Similar to Leila, the narrator of Bone, Ng is an educated woman who understood her parents’ working-class world. In the novel, the Chinese mother is a poorly paid, overworked garment worker. The father holds down a series of dead-end jobs, including janitor, dishwasher, houseboy, and laundry worker. As the book title suggests, the couple have worked their fingers to the bone to provide for their daughters. Bone is a tribute to the family’s father, who represents a generation of Chinese men who sacrificed their personal happiness for the sake of their families. Ng’s inspiration was the old Chinese men living alone and impoverished in single-room occupancy hotels in Chinatown. These men were part of Chinese America’s bachelor society and came to the United States to work in the gold mines, build railroads, and develop California’s agricultural economy. These immigrants became men without roots.
The novel also depicts the conflicts of the family’s three daughters with their old-fashioned parents. There is the middle daughter Ona, whose suicide suggests she could not adjust to American society and maintain her identity as a dutiful Chinese daughter. The youngest daughter, Nina, affirms a modern identity and escapes to New York City. Leila, the eldest daughter, is a complicated combination of the old Chinese ways and new American cultural patterns. As does Nina, the rebellious daughter, Ng moved to New York City. However, with her ability to assimilate to the new while keeping faith with the past, Leila is the daughter who most mirrors Ng’s identity as an Asian American. Bone was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award.
Ng's second novel, Steer Toward Rock (2008), again explores the theme of Chinese American life. Set in the 1950s, it follows the life of narrator Jack Moon Szeto, who works many manual and demeaning jobs as an undocumented immigrant in San Francisco. He meets Joice Qwan, who becomes his wife after she becomes pregnant with his child. The latter part of the novel follows their daughter, Veda, as she tries to come to terms with her place in American society and the secretiveness of her parents. Ng's novels explore the sometimes dark side of immigrants and immigration in American society. Steer Toward Rock received the American Book Award.
In 2023, Ng published an autobiographical novel, Orphan Bachelors. This novel is set before 1949, the year Mao Zedong’s Communist Party took control of mainland China. Ng writes of how her father had to memorize details of a fictitious life to delude United States Customs officials into allowing him entry into the country. The main impediment during this timeframe was racial prejudice directed against Chinese immigrants. Like Bone, the novel highlights the struggle of native Chinese men following their immigration to the United States. Here, they sacrificed their personal aspirations to provide their descendants with a future in the new country they helped to build. In 2024, Orphan Bachelors received the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. Ng has also contributed her work to literature anthologies, and she continued to appear at speaking engagements discussing her latest and previous works. Ng also continued to lecture at the University of California at Berkley.
Bibliography
Eder, Richard. "A Gritty Story of Assimilation." Los Angeles Times, 14 Jan. 1993, p. E5.
"Fae Myenne Ng." Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies, Department of Ethnic Studies, University of California, Berkeley, live-asian-american-and-asian-diaspora-studies.pantheon.berkeley.edu/fae-myenne-ng/. Accessed 10 Oct. 2024.
Jones, Louis B. "Dying to Be an American." New York Times Book Review, 7 Feb. 1993, pp. 7, 9.
Jordan, David. "Mirinae Lee and Fae Myenne Ng Awarded the 2024 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing." Stanford Libraries, 22 Aug. 2024, library.stanford.edu/news/mirinae-lee-and-fae-myenne-ng-awarded-2024-william-saroyan-international-prize-writing. Accessed 10 Oct. 2024.
Kakutani, Michiko. "Building on the Pain of a Past in China." New York Times, 29 Jan. 1993, p. C26.
Mishan, Ligaya. "Perseverance Brings Misfortune." New York Times, 3 Aug. 2008, www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/books/review/Mishan-t.html. Accessed 10 Oct. 2024.
Ng, Fae Myenne. "Fae Myenne Ng on the Blurred Boundaries Between Memory and Story." Lit Hub, 9 May 2023, ithub.com/fae-myenne-ng-on-the-blurred-boundaries-between-memory-and-story. Accessed 10 Oct. 2024.
"Orphan Bachelors: a Memoir." Publishers Weekly, www.publishersweekly.com/9780802162212. Accessed 10 May 2023.
"Some Favorite Writers: Fae Myenne Ng." Hammer Museum, 30 May 2024, hammer.ucla.edu/programs-events/2024/some-favorite-writers-fae-myenne-ng. Accessed 10 Oct. 2024.
Stetson, Nancy. "Honoring Her Forebears." Chicago Tribune, 4 Apr. 1993, p. C12.
Wong, Sau-Ling Cynthia. Reading Asian-American Voices: From Necessity to Extravagance. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1993.