Hey bloggers!
For the last few weeks in ASTU, we have been reading and analyzing Joy Kogawa’s novel Obasan. Obasan is a novel about a Japanese family and their struggles in Canada during the Second World War. Although the novel is fiction, it is based on true events of Japanese mistreatement at the time. Most recently, we went to the Rare Books Archives in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre to take a look at the Kogawa fond. The Kogawa fond consists of a collection of documents and letters related to the works of Joy Kogawa. As we have been reading Obasan by Joy Kogawa, seeing these documents and letters really brought the book to life.
In the Kogawa fond there are many boxes that contain orginal documents that Joy Kogawa herself used as well as fan letters and respondant letters from publishing companies. What surprised me that most was the amount of rejection letters that Kogawa received and the amount of drafts she had written before her novel was published. Although the novel itself is fictional, many people have acknowledged the effectiveness in which it delivers testimony of the mistreatment of Japanese people in Canada at the time. What had intruiged me about the novel was the fact that it was fiction, but still influenced the recording and remembering of an event that had actually taken place. In the Kogawa fond were many letters from people who had read the book and wanted to let Kogawa know the power and influence that Obasan had concerning real life events. There were also letters from people suggesting that the novel be translated in other languages so that it could be shared across the world.
By being able to see for ourselves the documents in which Kogawa used herself to write the novel and the criticisms she receieved, I learned things about the novel that I would not have otherwise known. Regardless of whether it is fiction or non-fiction, I would argue that literature that explores the struggles that people face can have a significant impact and call for change in the lives of many. It does not matter if they have experienced the same struggles or not, by reading literature about the struggles people face can help them understand and maybe even advocate for change.
On a side note, hope you are doing well and lets power through the last two weeks of the term!
Elizabeth