First published 1990
Wittman Ah Sing roams the streets of San Francisco as a passionate poet and playwright, caught between the fading Beat generation and the emerging counterculture. This unstoppable hipster throws himself into the city's artistic underground, driven by an obsession to create theater that bridges two worlds. He becomes infatuated with Nancy the Beautiful but ends up marrying Tana instead. Through it all, Wittman remains fixated on his ultimate goal: writing and producing an ambitious dramatic work that will span both America and China. His quest becomes a collision between artistic ambition and cultural identity, as he navigates love, marriage, and the challenge of bringing his epic vision to life on stage. The novel captures a specific moment in San Francisco's cultural history while exploring one man's determination to create art that honors both his heritage and his American experience.
Genres: fiction, drama, american-fiction, 20th-century, american, asian-american
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: artistic-ambition, cultural-collision, found-family
Setting: China, San Francisco
Period: 20th Century
352 pages · Paperback · Vintage