Rolling the R's - Softcover

Linmark, R. Zamora

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1885030517 ISBN 13: 9781885030511

Publisher: Kaya Press, 2016

Synopsis

Illuminated by pop fantasies, Donna Summer disco tracks and teen passion, the fiercely earnest characters in Rolling the R’s come to life against a background of burning dreams and neglect in a small 1970s Hawaiian community. In his daring first novel, R. Zamora Linmark treats the music of the Bee Gees and schoolyard bullying as equally formative experiences in the lives of a group of Filipino fourth-graders living in Kalihi, Honolulu, who call themselves the "Farrah Fawcett Fan Club." The characters’ stories unfold largely in the documentary detritus of their lives―their poems and prayers, book reports and teacher evaluations―all written in carefully observed, pitch-perfect vernacular. Now back in stock, Linmark’s tour-de-force experiments in narrative structure, pidgin and perspective roll every "are," throwing new light on gay identity and the trauma of cultural assimilation. Rolling the R’s goes beyond "coming of age" and "coming out" to address the realities of cultural confusion, prejudice and spiraling levels of desire in humorous yet haunting portrayals that are, as Matthew Stadler writes, "stylish, shameless and beautiful." This special twentieth anniversary edition includes a new essay by the author, introducing one of the most original and iconic stories of the Asian diasporic experience and an essential work of fiction in the Asian American literary canon.
R. Zamora Linmark (born 1968) is a writer and poet currently based in Honolulu and Manila. He has published three poetry collections, two novels and adapted Rolling the R’s for the stage in 2008.

About this title

About the Author

R. Zamora Linmark is the author of Rolling The R's, Prime Time Apparitions, The Evolution of a Sigh, and Leche, sequel to Rolling The R's. A two-time Fulbright Scholar, he has received grants and fellowships from the U.S.-Japan Friendship Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, San Francisco Arts Commission, and twice from the Fulbright Foundation, in 1998, and as a Senior Scholar in 2005. His residencies include the Macdowell Colony, the Corporation of Yaddo, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and, most recently, Fundacion Valparaiso in Spain. He has taught at the U.C. Santa Cruz, De La Salle University in the Philippines, and most recently, at the University of Hawaii in Manoa where he was the Distinguished Visiting Writer. His writings can be found in many anthologies including Charlie Chan is Dead (edited by Jessica Hagedorn).

Edition details

• Publisher: Kaya Press
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1885030517
• ISBN 13: 9781885030511
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 180