In November 29th’s class, we had a field trip to the Fonds. It is a part which locates in the first floor of IBLC. This is a special library. At this time, library works as a keeper for rare books and collections. The artifacts we had chance to read is about Joy Kogawa. These materials helps us to understand Kogawa’s works, Kogawa herself, and the process of writing books. As we discussed that Obasan is “technology of memory.”, those letters and drafts are also the “technology of memory.” These artifacts show the growing process of Obasan. They also presents Kogawa’s thinking of her own works. What she wanted to present and what she decided to cut is showed in those artifacts. These artifacts shows author’s thinking process. For example, Kogawa has many versions of family trees for Obasan. Each version gives some difference. The character was cut or added and their information changed. The last version we have seen is similar with characters in the book. With the changing of family tree, the story’s focus is changed and what author wants to present is also changed.
This field trip has changed my mind of reading Obasan. Those artifacts lead me to think about the relationship between author and their works. What we need to focus is not only the message send through the work, but also the process of author’s mind. These artifacts bring Kogawa back to a real person. We have seen a real person who also make spelling mistake. She also replied letters to her readers no matter who they are. Even they are kids or teenagers their communication is real and touched my heart. What we need to understand is that we should bring authors back to real life and consider themselves as a fact of works. How they write the works is also the content of the works.
