Combining the Old World with the New: Understanding the Asian American Experience Through a Mythological Lens

This project includes an outline of a prospective fantasy novel whose story is described through chapter summaries, a bit of sample writing, and an accompanying explanatory essay that acts as the novel's afterword. It follows the story of Hikari Hinata, a princess of a fictional nation in which gods and fate rule the lives of mortals. Her tale is a representative one--it seeks to call to mind the experiences of second-generation Asian Americans through its characterization, plot, and background inspirations. Two key concepts it focuses on are intergenerational trauma and combining that with ancient world mythologies, in a way that breathes new life into past narratives and explores modern-age experiences.