Hello readers,

       I hope you all are having an outstanding day today. Recently, in my ASTU 100 class, we read the novel Obasan by Joy Kogawa. This memoir is written with the character Naomi Nakane as its focus; a character influenced by the life events of Kogawa. It depicts the hard life that Japanese-Canadians faced post-World War 2. After finishing the novel, Professor Luger lead the class on a field trip to the UBC library of “Rare Books and Special Collections”. The contents in this library include books and artifacts with “Canadian history and literature. English literature, children’s books, and books on the history of cartography.”

        I enjoy reading, and I frequently find myself intimately connecting to books’ characters and becoming deeply immersed in their stories. However, for some reason, this sensation is typically temporary and seems to go away relatively quickly. It is always a letdown when that feeling of connection, interest and escape vanishes after the last pages of a novel have been turned. Books allow people to be immersed in another world, but at the same time that world may not feel real and the emotions it evokes may be temporary.

Walking into the library, a sense of importance washed over me. It’s an extraordinary feeling to be surrounded by so much history and knowledge. For me, as well as some other students in the class, this library tour changed our way of thinking about the novel Obasan. It helped emphasize the reality of some of the events that took place in the novel. It gave them a foundation in realty. Being able to hold and read the same documents that Kogawa held and read was a grounding experience. It allowed me to see her thought process while she was writing certain parts of the novel. It did a great job of depicting how much emotion and effort she put into writing each and every word. It made her narrative feel more real and its effect more lasting.

        This changed my interpretation of Kogawa from just another author, to a real person with extraordinary and tangible experiences. As such, this new perspective changed my perception of the novel from that of another book providing a temporary escape, to something that is a physical and memorable representation of life experiences. The UBC library of “Rare Books and Special Collections” helped make that happen. It provided and continues to provide the opportunity for people to experience some of Kogawa’s history in their life, so I definitely recommend you visit to enhance your experience of reading Obasan.