Hello readers!
Last week during ASTU class we visited the place: Rare Books and Special Collections at UBC library. This place collects archives (documents created/received by a person/organization) which are considered primary sources from scholars because the collections or materials are natural and unique. I enjoyed the experience of attending RBSC because: 1) This was the first time I had the chance to go over archives regarding a piece of literature and 2) we were able to get a look at Joy Kogawa fonds relating to her novel Obasan.
Obasan is considered one of the first novels that focuses on the subject of Japanese-Canadians internment during World War II. Based on this fact, it was exciting to go over her archives because I was able to find different types of artifacts such as correspondence, scholarly articles, drafts, letters of recommendation and much more!
As a reader most of the time I focus on the main themes, characters and symbols of a novel. However, as soon as I went through Joy Kogawa fonds I realized that there is much more material to take into consideration besides the characteristics mentioned above. Two artifacts from Joy Kogawa fonds made me realize that no matter what year Obasan is read by a person affected by a social event, they are able to connect the novel with the importance to never forget events that caused casualties in their own societies. By not forgetting, people are able to learn from past actions that had a negative impact in society which later influences individuals to think about possible ways to bring change to a society.
The first artifact I want to discuss is an Obasan review by JoAnn Mallory in a Canadian newspaper around the years after the novel was published in 1981. The newspaper review gives a brief summary of the novel and at the end it mentions,
“Obasan addresses each of us and forces us to look inward. It touches our hearts and our conscience. There are not accusations. Only shame and sorrow, which we must share, remain.” (Mallory)
This is an example of how people who read Obasan around this year of publication were able to perceived the importance to never forget the injustice Japanese-Canadians had to pass through when they were forcibly removed by the Canadian Government. The action to never forget actions of violence toward a group in a society made me think about the ceremony of the Redress Settlement Agreement in 1988. During the ceremony an extract from Obasan was read. This action supports the fact that Obasan was able to present the “voices of the past”, which influenced a change in the Canadian society. The change was that the government decided to delivered an apology to victims of the internment. Other artifact that shows the importance to never forget an event that caused tragedies in a society is the letter from Luyen Nguyen to Kogawa in 1989.
By the drawings and the glitter that decorated the letter, I was able to identify that it came from a girl between the ages of 12-15. The girl,Luyen, writes to Kogawa to mention her that Obasan reminded her about a war between North Vietnam and South Vietnam during 1954. During this war “male teenagers” were separated from their parents to help in the war (Nguyen).This letter connects to the action to never forget because Obasan caused Luyen to remember a past event in Vietnam that affected the society in a negative way, families began to get separated. In this case the change that arose from the Vietnam war impact on Luyen was identified when she mentioned that when she grows up she would like to write novels as Obasan to influence people to begin to be more aware of the actions that surround and affect their own societies.
Does your artifact from Joy Kogawa fonds contributes to the conversation of “never forgetting” historical events that had an impact on a society ?
References:
Mallory, JoAnn. Canadian newspaper review regarding Obasan.n.d. Box 12 File 4. Joy Kogawa fonds. University of British Columbia Library Rare Books and Special Collections, Vancouver, Canada.
Nguyen, Luyen. Letter from Luyen Nguyen to Joy Kogawa. 19 Oct. 1989. Box 58 File 3 . Joy Kogawa fonds. University of British Columbia Library Rare Books and Special Collections, Vancouver, Canada.
