Hua Hsu

Hua Hsu
Born	1977 (age 47–48) Champaign–Urbana, Illinois, U.S.
Education	University of California, Berkeley (BA) Harvard University (PhD)
Occupation(s)	Professor, writer
Employer(s)	Bard College The New Yorker
Notable work	A Floating Chinaman Stay True

Hua Hsu (born 1977) ^[1] is an American writer and academic, based in New York City. He is a professor of English at Bard College and a staff writer at The New Yorker . His work includes investigations of immigrant culture in the United States, as well as public perceptions of diversity and multiculturalism. He is the author of A Floating Chinaman: Fantasy and Failure Across the Pacific. His second book, Stay True: A Memoir , was published in September 2022.

Early life and education

A second-generation Taiwanese American, Hsu was born in 1977 in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, ^[2] before moving to Plano, then Richardson, Texas. ^[3] His family moved to southern California, ^[3] then ultimately Cupertino, California, ^[4] where his father was an engineer; his mother stayed at home with Hua. ^[3] The family lived in Cupertino from about the time Hua was 9 to 18, though his father moved to Taiwan to pursue work and Hua often spent summers and other school vacations there. ^[5]

Hsu attended college at the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied political science. ^[3] He graduated in 1999. ^[3] He next attended Harvard University to study Asian-American literature, ^[3] earning a Ph.D. in the History of American Civilization in 2008. ^[6] Louis Menand advised his dissertation, ^[7] titled Pacific Crossings: China, the United States, and the Transpacific Imagination. ^[6]

Career

Hsu was a tenured associate professor of English and director of American Studies at Vassar College ^[8] until 2022, when he became professor of English at Bard College. ^[9] Since 2017, he has also been a staff writer at The New Yorker . ^[10] His work includes investigations of immigrant culture in the United States, as well as public perceptions of diversity and multiculturalism. Other research work and interests include studies of literary history and arts criticism. ^[11]

Hsu has been a fellow at New America, a public policy think tank and a contributor to The New Yorker , The Atlantic , Slate, and The Wire. ^{[12] [13] [14]} His 2012 essay for Lucky Peach about suburban Chinatowns was nominated for a 2012 James Beard Award for food writing. ^[15] He is a board member of the Asian American Writers' Workshop. ^[16] His book, A Floating Chinaman: Fantasy and Failure Across the Pacific, ^[17] was published in June 2016 by Harvard University Press. ^[18] He was a 2016 National Fellow for the New America Foundation. ^[19]

Hsu's second book, Stay True: A Memoir, about an important friendship he had while in college, was published by Doubleday on September 27, 2022. It received a starred review in Publishers Weekly . ^[20] Jennifer Szalai of The New York Times wrote, "Hsu is a subtle writer, not a showy one; the joy of 'Stay True' sneaks up on you, and the wry jokes are threaded seamlessly throughout." ^[21] The book was named one of the "10 Best Books of 2022" by The New York Times ^[22] and The Washington Post . ^[23] The book won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Memoir or Autobiography ^[24] and the 2022 National Book Critics Circle award in autobiography. ^[25]

Personal life

Hsu lives in Brooklyn. ^[26] He is married with a son. ^[3]

Bibliography

Books

• Hsu, Hua (2016). A floating Chinaman : fantasy and failure across the Pacific. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP.
• — (2022). Stay true : a memoir . New York: Doubleday/Knopf/PRH.

Essays and reporting

• Hsu, Hua (January–February 2009). "The end of White America?". U.S. The Atlantic.
• — (April 18, 2012). "All hail the chairmen : Jonathan Olivares's 'Taxonomy of Office Chairs'". Los Angeles Review of Books.
• — (September 5, 2012). "Michael K. Williams reveals his Omar Mix". Vulture.
• — (December 13, 2012). "Wokking the Suburbs". Lucky Peach.
• — (September 26, 2014). "The Simpsons go to China". Currency. The New Yorker. ^[a]
• — (October 16, 2014). "Before gentrification, a city covered in graffiti". Cultural Comment. The New Yorker. ^[a]
• — (December 1, 2014). "The civility wars". Cultural Comment. The New Yorker. ^[a]
• — (February 22, 2016). "A god dream : Kanye West unveils a new album, 'The Life of Pablo'". The Critics. Pop Music. The New Yorker. 92 (2): 66–68. ^[b]
• — (March 7, 2016). "The struggle : Macklemore wrestles with his place in hip-hop". The Critics. Pop Music. The New Yorker. 92 (4): 70–71. ^[c]
• — (July 25, 2016). "Pale fire : is whiteness a privilege or a plight?". The Critics. A Critic at Large. The New Yorker. 92 (22): 63–66. ^[d]
• — (September 21, 2016). "The Critic Who Convinced Me That Criticism Could Be Art". The New Yorker.
• — (October 3, 2016). "Bon Iver's new voice". The Critics. Pop Music. The New Yorker.
• — (January 4, 2017). "Listening to George Michael in Taiwan". Cultural Comment [web only]. The New Yorker.
• — (April 24, 2017). "Praise songs : Alice Coltrane in Sanskrit". The Critics. Pop Music. The New Yorker. 93 (10): 98–99. ^[e]
• — (May 1, 2017). "Legacy media : Kendrick Lamar's sense of debt to those who came before". The Critics. Pop Music. The New Yorker. 93 (11): 74–75. ^[f]
• — (September 18, 2017). "Rostam Batmanglij defines his musical identity". Pop Music. The New Yorker.
• — (December 4, 2017). "Forward march : Bjõrk's visions of the future". The Critics. Pop Music. The New Yorker. 93 (39): 62–64. ^[g]
• — (May 20, 2019). "Machine yearning : Holly Herndon's search for a new art form for our tech obsessions". The Critics. Pop Music. The New Yorker. 95 (13): 83–84. ^[h]
• — (December 9, 2019). "Burial's Search for Fleeting Moments". Pop Music. The New Yorker.
• — (January 6, 2020). "Exclude me in : in the seventies, a group of Asian–American writers decided it was their turn". The Critics. Books. The New Yorker. 95 (43): 58–63. ^[i]
• — (September 21, 2020). "The musical monk : rediscovering Beverly Glenn-Copeland's inward-looking sounds". The Critics. Pop Music. The New Yorker. 96 (28): 59–60. ^[j]
• — (December 21, 2020). "Whims : Paul McCartney's surprisingly playful pandemic album". The Critics. Pop Music. The New Yorker. 96 (41): 80–81. ^[k]
• — (January 25, 2021). "Sound design : the obsessive beat-making of Madlib". The Critics. Pop Music. The New Yorker. 96 (45): 72–73. ^[l]
• — (April 5, 2021). "Game over : how athletes began telling a new story about sports". The Critics. Podcast Dept. The New Yorker. 97 (7): 63–65. ^[m]
• — (September 20, 2021). "Listening tour : Saint Etienne's nostalgic, time-travelling sounds". The Critics. Pop Music. The New Yorker. 97 (29): 78–79. ^[n]
• — (August 22, 2022). "My dad and Kurt Cobain : alternative culture and a fax machine bridged an ocean". Personal History. The New Yorker. 98 (25): 24–29.

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Notes

1. Available on website only.
2. Title in the online table of contents is "Kanye West realizes his dreams".
3. Online version is titled "Mackelmore, the hip-hop villain".
4. Online version is titled "White plight?".
5. Online version is titled "Alice Coltrane’s devotional music".
6. Online version is titled "Kendrick Lamar's holy spirit".
7. Online version is titled "Bjõrk's visions of an enchanted future".
8. Online version is titled "Electronic pop for the surveillance era".
9. Online version is titled "The Asian-American canon breakers".
10. Online version is titled "Beverly Glenn-Copeland's music for a future that never came".
11. Online version is titled "Paul McCartney's surprisingly playful pandemic album".
12. Online version is titled "The obsessive beat-making of Madlib".
13. Online version is titled "The rise of the athlete podcaster".
14. Online version is titled "Saint Etienne's Nineties nostalgia".

See also

• Chinese people in New York City
• New Yorkers in journalism
• Taiwanese people in New York City
• The Hanging on Union Square by H. T. Tsiang, whom Hsu refers to in A Floating Chinaman.

References

1. Spaeth, Ryu (September 20, 2022). "Hua Hsu Is True to the Game". Vulture. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
2. Hsu, Hua (August 15, 2022). "My Dad and Kurt Cobain". The New Yorker. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
3. "Episode 29: Professor and New Yorker Writer Hua Hsu by Mary H.K. Choi". Hey, Cool Job. March 16, 2018. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
4. "Angry Reader of the Week: Hua Hsu".
5. Hsu, Hua (June 18, 2012). "How Rock Ballads Brought My Father's American Dream To Life". NPR. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
6. "Alumni Publications". American Studies – The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
7. Mistry, Anupa (June 9, 2016). "Yaa Gyasi And Hua Hsu Talk About Writing". The Fader. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
8. "Hua Hsu - English Department - Vassar College". english.vassar.edu. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
9. College, Bard. "Hua Hsu". www.bard.edu. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
10. "Hua Hsu". The New Yorker. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
11. "Vassar Faculty and Staff". Vassar English Department. Vassar College. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
12. "Hua Hsu, New America Fellow". New America. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
13. "Authors: Hua Hsu". Slate.
14. "Author: Hua Hsu". The Atlantic.
15. Forbes, Paula (March 18, 2013). "Here Are the 2013 James Beard Awards Finalists". Eater. Retrieved November 29, 2021.
16. Romano, Evan (March 13, 2017). "Brooklyn 100 Influencer: Hua Hsu, The 'New Yorker'". Brooklyn Magazine. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
17. Nguyen, Viet Thanh (July 22, 2016). "Reconsidering the Work of a Chinese Immigrant Writer of the 1930s". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved September 12, 2017.
18. "Contributors: Hua Hsu". The New Yorker . Retrieved February 16, 2016.
19. "Hua Hsu". New America. Retrieved November 29, 2021.
20. "Stay True: A Memoir by Hua Hsu". Publishers Weekly. May 19, 2022. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
21. Szalai, Jennifer (September 29, 2022). "A Formative Friendship Cut Short by Tragedy". New York Times. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
22. "The 10 Best Books of 2022". The New York Times . November 29, 2022. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
23. "The 10 Best Books of 2022". The Washington Post . November 17, 2022. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
24. "2023 Pulitzer Prize Winners & Finalists". The Pulitzer Prizes. May 8, 2023. Retrieved May 8, 2023.
25. Varno, David (February 1, 2023). "NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE ANNOUNCES FINALISTS FOR PUBLISHING YEAR 2022". National Book Critics Circle. Retrieved February 3, 2023.
26. "The 100 Most Influential People in Brooklyn Culture 2017". Brooklyn Magazine. March 13, 2017. Retrieved September 12, 2017.