Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories (Revised and Expanded Edition)

by Hisaye Yamamoto, King-Kok Cheung (Introduction)

Overview

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

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813529530
Publisher:	Rutgers University Press
Publication date:	04/01/2001
Edition description:	Revised and Expanded
Pages:	178
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

HISAYE YAMAMOTO received the 1986 American Book Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Before Columbus Foundation. Seventeen Syllables received the 1988 Award for Literature from the Association for Asian American Studies.

Table of Contents

Contents

Introduction ix

The High-Heeled Shoes, A Memoir 1
Seventeen Syllables 8
The Legend of Miss Sasagawara 20
Wilshire Bus 34
The Brown House 39
Yoneko's Earthquake 46
Morning Rain 57
Epithalamium 60
Las Vegas Charley 70
Life Among the Oil Fields, A Memoir 86
The Eskimo Connection 96
My Father Can Beat Muhammad Ali 105
Underground Lady 109
A Day in Little Tokyo 114
Reading and Writing 122

Preface to the Revised and Expanded Edition 129
Death Rides the Rails to Poston 131
Eucalyptus 142
A Fire in Fontana 150
Florentine Gardens 158
Selected Bibliography 173
 

What People are Saying About This

Grace Paley

The writing of history and the telling of stories are in our time very different. But these stories about the daily lives of Japanese American women in and out of the World War II internment camps of the United States are history and her story. The women are gutsy or fragile-that is, like any of us would be caught in exile while at home. The stories are beautifully written so we feel them even more deeply.

Joy Kogawa

You can imagine my delight to learn that a collection of her work is now finally seeing the light of day. How good that feels. At least more people will be touched by the grace that flows through Hisaye Yamamoto's pen. The world be a better place because of it.

Editorial Reviews

The writing of history and the telling of stories are in our time very different. But these stories about the daily lives of Japanese American women in and out of the World War II internment camps of the United States are history and herstory. The women are gutsy or fragile—that is, like any of us would be caught in exile while at home. The stories are beautifully written so we feel them even more deeply.

Grace Paley

You can imagine my delight to learn that a collection of her work is now finally seeing the light of day. How good that feels. At last more people will be touched by the grace that flows through Hisaye Yamamoto's pen. The world will be a better place because of it.

Joy Kogawa

Reading Hisaye Yamamoto's Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories is like sitting down and having a good talk with someone who really remembers, someone who will open a door to her feelings and thoughts about what it has meant to be Japanese American during the last 40 years. . . . Seventeen Syllables is an excellent resource, one that keeps getting better with time.

International Examiner: The Pacific Reader

These remarkable stories are written with the proportion and craft of the masters—there are hints of Chekhov, Elizabeth Bowen, Katherine Mansfield, and Grace Paley. . . . Each of the fifteen short stories, written with the economy of haiku, is a treasure.

Booklist

Reading Hisaye Yamamoto's Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories is like sitting down and having a good talk with someone who really remembers, someone who will open a door to her feelings and thoughts about what it has meant to be Japanese American during the last 40 years. . . . Seventeen Syllables is an excellent resource, one that keeps getting better with time.-- "International Examiner: The Pacific Reader"

The writing of history and the telling of stories are in our time very different. But these stories about the daily lives of Japanese American women in and out of the World War II internment camps of the United States are history and herstory. The women are gutsy or fragileùthat is, like any of us would be caught in exile while at home. The stories are beautifully written so we feel them even more deeply.-- "Grace Paley"

You can imagine my delight to learn that a collection of her work is now finally seeing the light of day. How good that feels. At last more people will be touched by the grace that flows through Hisaye YamamotoÆs pen. The world will be a better place because of it.-- "Joy Kogawa"

These remarkable stories are written with the proportion and craft of the mastersùthere are hints of Chekhov, Elizabeth Bowen, Katherine Mansfield, and Grace Paley. . . . Each of the fifteen short stories, written with the economy of haiku, is a treasure.-- "Booklist"

From the Publisher