Greetings earthlings.
After reading Obasan, a novel written by Japanese – Canadian author, Joy Kogawa,
our ASTU class visited the Joy Kogawa Fonds learn more about the making of the book, but also, gather a better understanding about Kogawa. The Fonds are located in the basement of the UBC Library in the Rare Books and Special Collections archives. It was an interesting experience – one I enjoyed more than I anticipated.
“The fonds consists of drafts and source material for Joy’s poems and novels, records
generated for and through her work in various fields such as human rights, certificates and
other documents relating her education and work as a teacher, memorabilia mainly
concerning writers and poets, other people’s works sent to Joy, business and personal correspondence,
and published materials in which Joy’s works were published.” (Tsuruta 1-2)
The excursion to the archives really made Joy Kogawa come to life for me, not only as an author, but also as a person. We had the opportunity to read her writing, and touch pages that once must have clustered her office of living room while she was writing Obasan. When the archivist who facilitated our trip said it can actually be rather fun to snoop around and find juicy bits of information, I was skeptical. I did not think that going through someones’ old papers and letters could be interesting at all- but I was wrong. My peers, Jessica and Jackie actually found some really intriguing letters between a poet who claimed he could love both his wife and Kogawa- certainly something I was not expecting to be present in the fonds.
While looking through the fonds, I came across a lovely piece of fan mail. A woman wrote to Joy Kogawa explaining how the story of Obasan had spread and gained national attention. This particular fan wanted to share with Joy that a restaurant outside of Vancouver had been opened up and called the Emily Kato Restaurant. This small gesture is actually quiet noteworthy. Someone read the book and was obviously impacted by the book that when they saw this restaurant they wanted to share the news with the Joy.
For me, visiting the archives established how local this story truly is.
Hi Dina, lovely blog post!
I could not agree more that the outing to the archives made Joy Kagawa come to life! The fact that someone has opened a restaurant in honour of her book is so cool! It just goes to show how large of an impact someones story can have on people. I think I will definitely have to find this restaurant.
Yes, the restaurant is pretty cool. I unfortunately could not find the restaurant online.
I will probably have another dig soon- hopefully find it.
Hi Dina,
I completely agree when you said you were skeptical about finding anything “juicy” in the archives. I had never been in an archive, nor did I have any idea of what to expect, but I thought it was so fascinating having the opportunity to view her work which had, as you said, “once cluttered her desk”.
This was a very engaging blog post, looking forward to reading more in the next semester.
Cheers, Natalie Phillips.
Noted, thank you for the comment.
I’m glad to see that you enjoyed your experience at the archives, Dina!
I can’t help but agree with your skepticism about going through someone’s personal belongings and getting a thrill over it. To me, that felt like an invasion of privacy in a way, and that I shouldn’t intrude on someone’s personal life. But I had to remind myself that the documents, letters, fan-mail, news paper articles, and the other items that were found in Joy Kogawa’s archives were all donated, therefore she had already given us permission to look through her personal belongings with ease.
It’s great to see fans across Canada (and the world for that matter) are truly touched by the story that Kogawa had written. It’s quite endearing, and proves that you don’t have to be from that time-period to feel sympathetic over the atrocities that had transpired in the past against a group of people due to their race, class, age, beliefs or sex.
Thanks again for your wonderfully written blog post!
Jackie
I initially thought it was really weird that she would just donate such a large amount of personal belongings regarding Obasan, but then I realized it allows scholars like us to see parts of the process she went through to produce a piece of literature so well recieved. This event and story is so local, that the University of British Columbia is such a suitable place to store the Fonds of Kogawa.
Like I said on your blog post, you and Jess seriously hit the jackpot with your Fred findings! Good digging!
These Fonds provide a place for further research, a place to gain a better understanding about the atrocities during Japanese internment and a place to see the immense amount of research and planning that went into the making of Obasan.
Thanks for the engaged response, I appreciate that.
Lovely post,
I can’t help but agree with the fact that Joy Kogawas Obasan has made an impact on individuals lives. It is a riveting novel that also had an effect on the way I see the area I grew up in.
Sophia, my love.
Yes this story is so close to home.