Published in 1988
178 pages
Hisaye Yamamoto (1921 – 2011) was a Japanese American author. She is best known for the short story collection Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories, first published in 1988. Her work confronts issues of the Japanese immigrant experience in America, the disconnect between first and second generation immigrants, as well as the difficult role of women in society. Hisaye Yamamoto received acclaim for her work almost from the very beginning of her career. She was, as King-Kok Cheung noted, “one of the first Japanese American writers to gain national recognition after the war, when anti-Japanese sentiment was still rampant.” Although she herself resisted being rigidly characterized as a voice for Japanese or Asian groups (“I don’t think you can write aiming at a specifically Asian-American audience if you want to write freely”), she was considered one of the premier Asian-American authors.
What is this book about?
Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories brings together nineteen stories that span Hisaye Yamamoto’s forty-year career. It was her first book to be published in the United States. Yamamoto’s themes include the cultural conflicts between the first generation, the Issei, and their children, the Nisei; coping with prejudice; and the World War II internment of Japanese Americans.
In addition to the contents of the original volume, this edition brings back into print the following works:
– Death Rides the Rails to Poston
– Eucalyptus
– A Fire in Fontana
– Florentine Gardens
