Seventeen Syllables': Hisaye Yamamoto (Women Writers: Texts and Contexts)

Seventeen Syllables': Hisaye Yamamoto (Women Writers: Texts and Contexts) by Cheung, King-Kok. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780813520537.

Hisaye Yamamotos often reprinted tale of a naive American daughter and her Japanese mother captures the essence the cultural and generational conflicts so common among immigrants and their American-born children. On the surface, "Seventeen Syllables" is the story of Rosie and her preoccupation with adolescent life. Between the lines, however, lurks the tragedy of her mother, who is trapped in a marriage of desperation. Tomes deep absorption in writing haiku causes a rift with her husband, which escalates to a tragic event that changes Rosies life forever. Yamamotos disarming style matches the verbal economy of haiku, in which all meaning is contained within seventeen syllables. Her deft characterizations and her delineations of sexuality create a haunting story of a young girls transformation from innocence to adulthood. This casebook includes an introduction and an essay by the editor, an interview with the author, a chronology, authoritative texts of "Seventeen Syllables" (1949) and "Yonekos Earthquake" (1951), critical essays, and a bibliography. The contributors are Charles L. Crow, Donald C. Goellnicht, Elaine H. Kim, Dorothy Ritsuko McDonald, Zenobia Baxter Mistri, Katharine Newman, Robert M. Payne, Robert T. Rolf, and Stan Yogi.