Chinese-American writer H.T. Tsiang’s novel The Hanging on Union Square is now a Penguin Classic
- The poet, activist, author and actor’s roller-coaster life is being re-examined along with his self-published 1935 book
- Mercurial, innovative and impossible to pigeonhole, his unique artistry is indivisible from his insecure existence as an immigrant
“Since time is money, I now present our hero, a Forgotten Man, a Little Man, an Average Man.”
Until the recent publication of The Hanging on Union Square, by Penguin Classics, its author, H.T. Tsiang, might easily have been confused with Mr Nut, the nowhere man, hero-failure he invented for that self-same novel first published in 1935.
“So today, a Forgotten Man, a Little Man, an Average Man, Mr Nut, Dr Nut, is doing his bit! Of his own free will, he is hanging himself on Union Square.”
In much the same way that Nut is a fixture around downtown New York of the 1930s, Tsiang can be glimpsed as an extra, a walk-on or even a cameo in other people’s larger dramas. This is almost literally the case with Tsiang’s acting career in the 50s and 60s, which consisted of small parts portraying Hollywood’s stereotyped notions of Chinese characters.
His name might also ring faint bells among aficionados of political arts movements from Depression-era America. Tsiang’s poems enjoyed a brief vogue as song lyrics thanks to the Workers Music League, a collection of communist artists that included Charles and Ruth Crawford Seeger, parents of influential folk musician Pete Seeger.