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Ono
Ono Girl's Hula
Carolyn
Lei-lanilau
If you think you know something
about what multiculturalism means in real life, read Carolyn
Lei-lanilau and think again.
Both playful and serious, this
audacious riff on ethnic and sexual identity by Hawaiian–Hakka
Chinese–American writer Carolyn Lei-lanilau revolves around
the persona she calls "Ono Ono Girl," an icon that
interweaves and transcends Lucille Ball, Little Lulu, Tina Turner,
and Spottie Dottie. Challenging assumptions about genre and gender,
and acting out the notion that language is a function of the
body, these essays are transforming soundbites of Ono Ono Girl
inventing herself.
"Just
when you thought American literature was canonized and commodified
beyond saving, Carolyn Lei-lanilau's intertextual, irreverent
work, Ono Ono Girl's Hula, brings language and philosophy
back to the table. Her book is a miracle delivery: a rebirth
of poetry, Third World Spam, and love wrapped around the hybrid
vigor of Hawaiian, Hakka, French, Latin, and English. Soulful,
powerful, and wise."—Russell Leong, editor of Amerasia
Journal
"A book
enjoyable equally for its fun as for its profundity, Carolyn
Lei-lanilau's Ono Ono Girl's Hula is irresistible
must reading for feminists, anthropologists, contemporary culture
buffs, and anyone who wants a refreshing take on some of our
more vexing current disputes. Down-to-earth and poetic, serious
and hilarious at once, her unconventional voice invites the reader
to understand the paradoxes of identity—sexual and ethnic—in
new ways."—Robin Lakoff, author of Talking Power
Carolyn Lei-Lanilau is a poet, artist, and scholar
who lives in Oakland, California, and in Honolulu, Hawai'i. Her
book Wode Shuofa (My Way of Speaking) received a 1989
American Book Award. Her poems have been anthologized in five
books, including The Best American Poetry of 1996, and
have appeared in such journals as The Bloomsbury Review, The
American Poetry Review, Manoa, Yellow Silk, Zyzzyva, and
Calyx. She has been a lecturer at the University of Hawai'i
at Manoa and at West O'ahu, Tianjin Foreign Language Institute
in China, and Cal State–Hayward.
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October
1997
196 pp. none 6 x 9
ISBN 0-299-15630-3 Cloth $34.95 s
ISBN 0-299-15634-6 Paper $17.95 t
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