On the 18th of November 2014, we visited the Rare Books Library in the Irving K Barber Learning Center on University of British Columbia campus as part of our Arts Studies class’ study on the novel Obasan written by Joy Kogawa. This is the first time I have been to any sort of rare book library, and it was definitely a worthwhile experience. As the documents stored in the library were one of a kind originals given personally by Joy Kogawa, we had to be careful and caring when handling them. Opening each sealed box felt similar to opening presents on Christmas, the excitement of unraveling the unknown.
Each box contained a variety of different materials. The types of artifacts included newspaper articles, letters, poetry, drafts, historical source material, government documents and a lot more. Going through Joy Kogawa’s personal notes and drafts was enlightening as it is not every day that you get to delve into a writer’s mind by reading their unpublished material. Funnily enough I found it quite hard to read her handwriting and comprehend what exactly was in front of me. What I did learn was that the amount of research and planning that went into Obasan was immense, and I was surprised by the effort that Joy Kogawa undertook to make the novel as authentic as possible. In particular, I was intrigued by the amount of text that was edited and deleted, which never made it into the novel. Personally, I wonder how authors like Joy Kogawa decide which material to publish and what should be left out of the final copy. Observing the writing process of an author could be useful in terms of improving your own writing.
The hour that we spent going through the Kogawa Fonds sped by, and I only managed to skim through less than half of the artifacts available. While I would probably never had explored into this realm on my own, I honestly can say that it was eye opening and would love to re-visit sometime in the future.
I had a similar experience in the fonds. I thought it was really interesting how much the editor played a role in decided what was and was not in Kogawa’s book. It made me realize that even though works of literature are attributed mainly to one person, a whole team of people are behind their production. It is almost like there are two authors. I also really enjoyed going through her stuff! Its like treasure hunting… you never know what you are going to find!
The visit to the rare books library was really one of the most special experiences. Although the books collection at the more “conventional” libraries are equally commendable, it is the primary-source nature of the content that made this library really stood out. Here, the secondary content found in other libraries are unraveled and leaves us as the reader to do the job instead. Despite this, is it not intriguing to ask whether the thing we see before us is already everything? Is it not possible that Joy Kogawa still has several of her most secretive documents hidden up her sleeve? These are mere questions and is in no way a judgment that there is definitely something missing. Indeed, when even her most random note-taking pages and her highly secretive affair is included, one is compelled to say that everything has been donated to the library. This can also be applied to official historical discourses; is the thing we’re presented already the full story? With the highly abridged “summaries” that historians have to do in order to make the content fit in their prescribed page limit, some less relevant content is obviously going to be excluded. The finished product is also of secondary knowledge already interpreted through a person’s lens.