Last week, my ASTU class visited the rare books and special collections Library in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. The library possess a large collection of original and special literature material. We received literature material from the Japanese-Canadian author Joy Kogawa. Benny and I were given the original handwritten plot outline, chapter outline, character descriptions, first drafts of chapter 3 and an early typewriter draft of chapter 10 from Joy Kogawa’s best selling novel “Obasan”.

To be honest, I was a little astonished that we were given the materials. The rare books and special collections Library in UBC is the only place in the world, where you can find Joy Kogawa’s original handwritten plots and outlines of the story. Often we just get to see the final product, in this case, the published version of “Obasan”, but at the Library we were given the opportunity to explore and go through the early stages and planning of the novel. It allowed me to understand the ideas that went through Kogawa’s mind while she was planning and writing the novel. Benny and I received a lot of help from the Librarian to read her handwriting and understand the material.

It was interesting to analyse the family tree that Joy Kogawa drew to show the relationship of the characters. I was also surprised to see all the changes that she made to her handwritten notes, especially when it came to the dates and locations. This shows that throughout the planning of the novel, she did some research on the topic and made changes accordingly to her results. Joy Kogawa put a lot of effort into the chapter and character plot which means that she had a clear idea of what she wanted to outline and write about in the novel. Her handwritten notes are very similar to the published novel and the character names appeared to be the same as in the book.

Benny and I also had a draft of chapter 10. The draft was not handwritten, but instead produced and written on a typewriter. The Librarian explained to us that it was a later draft of the novel and hence the planning stage was already completed at that point of time. The draft had handwritten notes all over it and spelling mistakes were corrected by hand as well.

Overall, the ASTU field trip to the Library was an eye-opening experience. It allowed us to visit a new place on campus, gave us the chance to explore original literature material and it was nice to have class in a different environment. It allowed me to learn about the author behind a novel that we’re reading in class and made me realise how much effort she put into her work.