forA Lesson Before Dyingin 1993. Asian American
writers played a major part in the cultural climate of
the 1990’s. Amy Tan had emerged as a major force
withThe Joy Luck Clubin 1989—still on the best-seller
lists in 1990—and she followed withThe Kitchen God’s
Wifein 1991 andThe Hundred Secret Sensesin 1995.
Another Chinese American writer, Ha Jin, ended the
decade by winning the National Book Award for
Waitingin 1999, while Jhumpa Lahiri took the Pulit-
zer Prize in 2000 for her stories collected inInter-
preter of Maladies(1999). Between Tan and Lahiri,
Asian American writers were everywhere: Chinese
American writers Gish Jen, Gus Lee, David Wong
Louie, Sandra Tsing Loh, and Fae Myenne Ng,
among others, established themselves in fiction, and
other Asian groups represented in the decade in-
cluded Filipino American Jessica Hagedorn (Dog-
eaters, 1990), Japanese American Cynthia Kadohata
(In the Heart of the Valley of Love, 1992), Indian Ameri-
can Bharati Mukherjee (The Holder of the World, short
stories, 1993), and Korean American Chang-Rae
Lee (Native Speaker, 1995).
Native American writers likewise emerged as a
force in the decade. Louise Erdrich had already
gained a critical reputation in the 1980’s with novels
likeLove Medicine(1984), but she consolidated her
place in the 1990’s withThe Bingo Palace(1994),Tales
of Burning Love(1996), andThe Antelope Wife(1998).
With her husband, Michael Dorris, she also pub-
lishedThe Crown of Columbus(1991). Dorris col-
lected his short stories a few years later inWorking
Men (1993). Other Native American writers in-
cluded Gerald Vizenor (The Heirs of Columbus, 1991),
Sherman Alexie, whose collection of short stories,
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fight in Heaven, immedi-
ately gained critical attention in 1993, and Leslie
Marmon Silko, who publishedGardens in the Dunesin
1999.
African American writers were similarly busy dur-
ing the 1990’s. Toni Morrison followed her award-
winningBeloved(1987) withJazzin 1992, in the same
year publishedPlaying in the Dark: Whiteness in the Lit-
erar y Imagination, and followed in 1998 with the
novelParadise.Terry McMillan produced best sellers
inWaiting to Exhale(1992) andHow Stella Got Her
Groove Back(1996). Likewise, Walter Mosley estab-
lished himself in the 1990’s not only as one of the
premier writers of mystery fiction (inDevil in a Blue
Dress, for example, in 1990) but also as a writer who
could deal with issues of race and urban poverty (Al-
ways Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, 1997, and
Walkin’ the Dog, 1999). Jamaica Kincaid (born in
Antigua) publishedLucyin 1990 andThe Autobiogra-
phy of My Motherin 1996. Edwidge Danticat (born in
Haiti) published a collection of short stories,Krik?
Krak!in 1995 and the novelThe Farming of the Bones
in 1998.
Latino fiction was likewise active. Sandra Cisneros
followed her critically acclaimedThe House on Mango
Street(1984) withWoman Hollering Creek (1991),
while Dagoberto Gilb publishedThe Magic of Bloodin- Helena Maria Viramontes succeeded her 1985
collection of short stories,The Moths, withUnder the
Feet of Jesus(1995), a young adult novel concerning
the plight of migrant workers in California’s Central
Valley. Isabel Allende published the popularDaugh-
ter of Fortunein 1999. Dominican American Junot
Díaz was one of a number of Caribbean writers to ap-
pear in the decade, with the short-story collection
Drown(1996). Dominican American Julia Alvarez
published the popularHow the García Girls Lost Their
Accentsin 1991, Oscar Hijuelos followed up his 1990
Pulitzer with The Fourteen Sisters of Emilio Montez
O’Brien(1993) andMr. Ives’ Christmas(1995), and
Christine Bell (also Cuban American) published the
novelThe Perez Familyin 1990.
Middle Eastern writers who published in the de-
cade included Jordanian writers Joseph Geha
(Through and Through, short stories, 1990) and Di-
ana Abu-Jaber (Arabian Jazz, 1993), and Meena Alex-
ander (Fault Lines, 1993) and Chitra Banerjee
Divakaruni (The Mistress of Spices, 1997, andSister of
My Heart, 1999), both from India. The emergence of
new ethnic literature actually spurred recognition of
older traditions that had been taken for granted.
There was renewed interest in Irish American writ-
ers (T. C. Boyle, Maureen Howard, William Ken-
nedy, Mary Gordon, Alice McDermott), Italian
American authors (Gay Talese, Mario Puzo, John
Fante), and Jewish American writers (Saul Bellow,
Cynthia Ozick, Norman Mailer).
Globalism and Regionalism The increasing diver-
sity in American literature could be felt in other ways
as well. While American readers were discovering
the breadth and depth of the American ethnic mix,
they were at the same time expanding their horizons
in the recognition of writers from around the globe.
Writers in English had always been popular, and this
included in the 1990’s British writers like A. S. ByattThe Nineties in America Literature in the United States 523