Joy Kogawa
Visiting the Kogawa Fonds and looking and examining Joy Kogawa’s archives related to Obasan were very interesting. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect in the documents we were going to see but a lot of them were very thought provoking and enjoyable to read.
One type of archive that we looked at were the editors comments of Kogawa’s original draft of Obasan, including what editors enjoyed about the novel and the critiques they had along with it. These ranged from some that were fairly nice to really rude ones. Comments included things like: “A major difficulty you have here is with your narrator,” wrote an editor from NeWest Press, “she is accepting and avoids thinking of many things that are important to the tension of the story.” Another, much harsher, editor stated (in reference to Aunt Emily), “E. still annoys. Do we need her here? Can we just omit her name?” This shows the difference and the range of editorial comments she got and had to deal with before her book was actually published.
Another thing, which I feel we don’t expect is how, many rejection letters authors actually have to deal with before they get one positive response. After looking at the archives, I know that Kogawa got many. She was told that her book cannot be published because “the readers felt an intensified, imaginative approach was required” and that the “narrative lacks flow and colour,” according to McClelland and Stewart Limited. Doubleday Canada Limited said that they “see problems with marketing of this story and would not feel comfortable in making [her] an offer.” It’s interesting to see that authors who we look up to went through so many rejections and let downs before getting to the place they are at now and getting known globally.
The Rare Book’s Library contained many more of Kogawa’s archives such as fan mail, newspaper articles about her novel and even a short excerpt showing us how she deals with writers block; she just started writing sentences until eventually her thoughts came together and she was able to produce a proper chapter for her book. Looking at these archives was an amazing experience and I learned more about Kogawa’s work than I ever thought I would.