By Joi Yan Johanna Chan

How are authors’ writing and thoughts affected by their experiences, and what does it mean for a person to carry several identities? Jessica Zhan Mei Yu delves into these thought-provoking questions through her exploration of art, scholarship, feminism, race and family in her debut novel But the Girl. This coming-of-age story follows the protagonist, only known as Girl, as she travels to Scotland for a month-long residency. There, she attempts to write her postcolonial novel and work on her thesis on Sylvia Plath. Girl’s readings of Plath and the encounters she has with other artists throughout her residency cause her to reflect on her upbringing as a second-generation immigrant, resulting in Girl experiencing internal conflicts with identity and culture.

But The Girl is a love letter to art and academia, but it also places both under a critical lens. Yu’s own experiences as an Asian-Australian writer and academic at the University of Melbourne are reflected in her commentary on the arts and scholarship throughout the story. One example is through Girl’s reflection on the works of Plath. Girl believes there are conflicting views between fans and scholars on how to interpret Plath’s work, such as whether to enjoy her works and ‘mine’ them for autobiographical detail or to understand her works as literature and apply literary theories to them. Girl laments how she ‘felt the tug’ of both groups even though their views clash. Plath’s works also lead to Girl’s musings over feminism and her identity as a woman. This was seen through her memories of discussing Plath with a male teacher, who didn’t seem to understand Plath’s writing.

A core part of But the Girl’s musings focuses on the idea of privilege, whether through race, class or gender. Yu explores the topic of privilege in the academic sphere, leveraging her personal journey as a PhD holder in Creative Writing to inform her exploration. Girl considers the identity of the female scholar in relation to the male scholar, how seriously they are taken, as well as the irony of the small number of scholars of colour in the field of postcolonial writing. In the art sphere, Girl tells another resident, Clementine, that she doesn’t have ‘all of this family money to fall back on’. Girl reflects on artists she knows and their financial stability, which allows them to freely use art and the bohemian lifestyle as an ‘interesting pose’.

While Girl attempts to work on her postcolonial novel, she ponders what the word ‘postcolonial’ actually means. She notes that postcolonial is a ‘theoretical, distant and impressive’ term for an immigrant novel. It is as though Yu’s novel acknowledges its own form through referencing postcolonial writing and coming-of-age stories.

Ultimately, Girl’s identity as a second-generation immigrant converges with issues of race. Girl at one point muses over how she related to Esther Greenwood from The Bell Jar growing up and the betrayal of seeing Plath write that Esther was as ‘yellow as a Chinaman’. Girl also reflects on her experiences as part of a minority in the context of her residency and academia. She engages in discussions with other residents to unpack topics such as cancel culture and the need for contextualising art, with Girl as the sole voice arguing for representation and for white artists to learn to understand the ‘pain of others’. The rift is widened as some of the artists tell her they see works from people of colour as a ‘trend’. Because of these differences, Girl’s finds it difficult to live on her own in Scotland, and so recalls past experiences of how her family communicated with her – there’s generational trauma, cultural differences with her classmates’ families and musings over her family’s teachings.

The narrative gives space for Girl’s musings and explores the overlap and connection between
postcolonialism, art, academia and race on a thematic level. The novel does not use a traditional plot structure but rather feels more like a loose reflection of these themes. The usage of loose reflection gives readers the opportunity to reflect on converging identities in this day and age. Girl’s character development hinges on her internal thoughts and coming to terms with her identity, with her experiences during her residency further shaping the debates and reflections in her mind. 

While more questions than answers arise from the novel for both Girl and the readers, But the
Girl takes people on a journey through the depths of Girl’s mind and weaves her story with
intricate observations and criticisms of the world as we know it.

But the Girl was first published by Penguin Random House and Jonathan Cape (UK) in 2023 and has an RRP of $32.99. It is available from most online and local retailers.

Joi Yan Johanna Chan is currently studying creative writing and publishing at the University of Melbourne. She enjoys stories of all forms and genres but takes particular interest in topics like identity, grief and culture. You can often find her rambling about books, films and stories here.

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