Leonard Chang is a Korean-American writer of short stories and novels. A Korean American (Korean: 한국계 미국인, Hanja: 韓國系美國人, hangukgye migukin) is an American of Korean descent. ... This article is in need of attention. ... A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative in prose. ...

His short stories have been published in a variety of literary journals. His novels include Fruit 'N Food (1996), winner of the Black Heron Press Award for Social Fiction), a story about a loner who finds employment in a New York grocery; major themes include race relations and violence. His other works include: Dispatches from the Cold (1998) and Over The Shoulder (2001), a mystery/noir novel. Other novels that feature his Korean-American PI protagonist, Allen Choice, include: Underkill (2003) and Fade To Clear (2004). 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... This article is about the year 2001. ... Mystery fiction is a distinct subgenre of detective fiction that entails the occurrence of an unknown event which requires the protagonist to make known (or solve). ... Hardboiled crime fiction is a uniquely American style pioneered by Dashiell Hammett, refined by Raymond Chandler, and endlessly imitated since by writers such as Mickey Spillane. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Chang's work is unusual in the canon of Asian American literature because of the level of assimilation many of his Korean American characters have achieved. His characters tend to be second or third generation Americans, often with few ties to their ethnic origins. His later works deal less with race relations than with character-driven issues, such as with Allen Choice, whose name ("Choice" changed from the Korean "Choi" by his father) denotes the shift in ethnic identity and themes.

Chang's experiments in genre fiction is related to this shift, since the stories revolve around solving a mystery or crime, and despite the fact that the protagonist is Korean American, the debt here is more to Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Ross Macdonald than to Maxine Hong Kingston, Amy Tan or Richard E. Kim. Raymond Chandler Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an author of crime stories and novels. ... Samuel Dashiell Hammett (May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. ... Ross MacDonald (born January 24, 1965 in Vancouver, British Columbia) is a Canadian sailor. ... Image:Maxine Hong Kingston Hey Tayler/ Russel by David Shankbone. ... Amy Tan (Chinese: 譚恩美; pinyin: Tán Ēnměi; born February 19, 1952) is an American writer whose works explore mother-daughter relationships and what it means to grow up as a first generation Asian American. ... Richard E. Kim (b. ...

Still in the early stages of his career, Chang's work is constantly maturing and developing, and what seems to differentiate his work from others of his generation is his singular focus on detailing the Korean American experience as distinctly American.

See also

• List of Korea-related topics

This is a list of Wikipedia articles on Korea-related people, places, things, and concepts. ...

External links

• Official Site
• Interview at Absolute Write