" "No-No Boy" has the honor of being the very first Japanese
American novel," writes novelist Ruth Ozeki in her new foreword to
John Okada's classic of Asian American literature. First published
in 1956, "No-No Boy" was virtually ignored by a public eager to put
World War II and the Japanese internment behind them. It was not
until the mid-1970s that a new generation of Japanese American
writers and scholars recognized the novel's importance and
popularized it as one of literature's most powerful testaments to
the Asian American experience.
"No-No Boy" tells the story of Ichiro Yamada, a fictional
version of the real-life "no-no boys." Yamada answered "no" twice
in a compulsory government questionnaire as to whether he would
serve in the armed forces and swear loyalty to the United States.
Unwilling to pledge himself to the country that interned him and
his family, Ichiro earns two years in prison and the hostility of
his family and community when he returns home to Seattle. As Ozeki
writes, Ichiro's "obsessive, tormented" voice subverts Japanese
postwar "model-minority" stereotypes, showing a fractured community
and one man's "threnody of guilt, rage, and blame as he tries to
negotiate his reentry into a shattered world."
The first edition of "No-No Boy" since 1979 presents this
important work to new generations of readers.
General
Imprint: |
University of Washington Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
Classics of Asian American Literature |
Release date: |
August 2014 |
First published: |
July 2014 |
Authors: |
John Okada
|
Foreword by: |
Ruth Ozeki
|
Introduction by: |
Lawson Fusao Inada
|
Afterword by: |
Frank Chin
|
Dimensions: |
216 x 140 x 18mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback - Trade / Trade
|
Pages: |
264 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-295-99404-8 |
Categories: |
Books >
Fiction >
General & literary fiction >
Modern fiction
|
LSN: |
0-295-99404-5 |
Barcode: |
9780295994048 |
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