Welcome back to another blog! Last Tuesday, our ASTU class visited Irving K Barber Learning Center, RBSC (Rare Books and Special Collections) at UBC. This is the place where some of the rare books and special drafts are collected. Since we are reading and learning about Obasan by Joy Kogawa, it is a great way to understand the origin of the idea behind it.
Let me talk about my experience in the RBSC! When I arrived, students are required to get a locker key to put our bags. I walked into the discussion room when my coat on and the librarian, Veronica kindly told me to hang it outside, then I knew this place is extremely stringent, they even took my pen away! In the room, everyone sat in pairs work together for this period, and I am in a group with Georgia. Veronica talked about the rules in RBSC. For example, we have to wear “Michael Jackson’s” gloves whenever we handle a rare book. Therefore, I have to be extra cautious to handle the materials.
Each group has a folder of materials in front of us. The one Georgia and I got was very interesting. We had a sheet of paper that listed a number of suggested titles before Kogawa came up with Obasan, such as “Read the Forest Braille”, “If I must remember” etc. I believe choosing the right title is very important to every author because a good title achieves an establishment of a point-of-view and to be discovered more than contrived, with deep underlying meaning. The title “Obasan” is very eye-catching, as the majority of the audience would have thought the plot was surrounding the biography of Obasan. Instead, Obasan is a theme of the story – the benefit of silence. I was amused to understand that choosing a title could have gone either way, but a single-word title gives a huge impression and curiosity about the book, which I assume the reason why it becomes one of the best selling books! Another piece of paper we obtained was the summary and setting of each chapter, and it is hand-written by Kogawa. According to the original draft, chapter 2 is a Naomi’s dream, it turns out the final draft is about her career as a teacher in Alberta. I never realized being an author would be that difficult in terms of putting a massive effort into planning for years!
In general, I think RBSC is a fantastic place to explore some of the rare books. Interestingly, you can find the originality and inspiration of some of the drafts and materials, giving deeper insight into the author’s thoughts. Despite the hard work of writing an exceptional book, Kogawa also visited every printing press and found one that was willing to publish her work. Her perseverance has earned her a great deal of respect.