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Mike Palindrome, the President of the Literature Supporters Club, joins Jacke for a reading and discussion of "Mrs. Spring Fragrance" by Sui Sin Far. The story, which takes place against a backdrop of waves of immigration to America in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (and the racist anti-Asian laws that followed), depicts an enterprising "Americanized" Chinese woman with a taste for matchmaking as she navigates the worlds of Seattle, San Francisco, and her own marriage. While acknowledging the achievement of the pioneering Sui Sin Far, Mike explores his personal reaction to the story, especially the highly patriarchal world of Asian immigrant communities. Additional listening: 667 Sui Sin Far (with Victoria Namkung) 529 Ten Thousand Things and the Asian American Experience (with Shin Yu Pai) 410 What Is American Literature? (with Ilan Stavans) The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Edith Maude Eaton (1865-1914) grew up in unusual circumstances: her father was an English merchant who traveled to China on business, and her mother was a formerly enslaved tightrope walker and human knife-throwing target who traveled all over the world with an acrobatic troupe. The eldest daughter among fourteen children, Eaton mostly grew up in Montreal, then relocated to America, where she became famous under the pen name Sui Sin Far. Today, her journalism and fiction, mostly chronicling the lives of Chinese men and women living in America, are impressive for their insight and humor. In this episode, Jacke talks to novelist and scholar Victoria Namkung about An Immortal Book: Selected Writings by Sui Sin Far, for which she wrote the forward. PLUS Samantha Rose Hill (Hannah Arendt: A Critical Life) discusses her choice for the last book she will ever read. Additional listening: 512 Hannah Arendt (with Samantha Rose Hill) 529 Ten Thousand Things and the Asian American Experience (with Shin Yu Pai) 66 A Conversation with Novelist Shawna Yang Ryan The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Learn more about the feminist open source publisher cita press and An Immortal Book: Selected Writings of Sui Sin Far, a curated collection of short fiction and nonfiction by the pioneering writer, Sui Sin Far (also known as Edith Maude Eaton), one of our past "lost ladies." A journalist and writer of Chinese and British descent who moved to the U.S, Sui Sin Far wrote about what it was like to live as a Chinese woman in a white America. We welcome back our previous guest Victoria Namkung as well as the founder and design director of cita Press, Juliana Castro Varón, the publisher of this new collection. Discussed:Cita PressLost Ladies of Lit Episode on Sui Sin Far with Victoria NamkungLost Ladies of Lit Episode on Winnifred Eaton with Mary ChapmanPapel sensible by Juliana Castro VarónAn Immortal Book: Selected Writings of Sui Sin Far by cita PressThese Violent Delights by Victoria NamkungThe Things We Tell Ourselves by Victoria NamkungThe Beautiful by Vernon Lee (a.k.a. Violet Paget)Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet JacobsBehind a Mask by Louisa May Alcott Men, Women and Ghosts by Amy LowellThe Poor Clare by Elizabeth GaskellThe Yellow Wall-paper by Charlotte Perkins GilmanMeditations on the Song of Songs by Santa Terese de JesúsThe Awakening by Kate ChopinThe Old Maid by Edith WhartonVoices Around Me: Nobel Prize Lectures For episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.comDiscuss episodes on our Facebook Forum. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast
With the re-release of Winnifred Eaton's riveting 100 year-old novel CATTLE, we're thrilled to be joined by Mary Chapman, director of the Winnifred Eaton Archive. Described as "a curious Canadian mixture of Hardy and Steinbeck” and set in the sweeping landscapes of Alberta, CATTLE is a love story with strong Western vibes. In this episode: You can order a copy of CATTLE from this bookstore: https://asamnews.com/2023/07/11/clean-up-new-york-chinatown-fire-yu-me-books-tenants-residents/Winnifred Eaton (also known as Onoto Watanna)Lost Ladies of Lit episode on Edith Maude Eaton (also known as Sui Sin Far) with guest Victoria Namkung"Cattle" by Winnifred Eaton from Invisible Publishing"Yellowstone" (TV Series)"1923" (TV Series) "Making Noise, Making News: Suffrage Print Culture, and US Modernism" by Mary Chapman"Becoming Sui Sin Far: Early Fiction Journalism and Travel Writing" edited by Mary Chapman"Onoto Watana's Cattle at 100" conference in CalgaryFor episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.com Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast
Tonight, we'll read a story from a short story collection titled “Mrs. Spring Fragrance” written by Sui Sin Far, published in 1912. The story we will read, about two children who find themselves lost in a magical forest, was originally titled “The Banishment of Ming and Mai.” This episode originally aired in April of 2021. The author Sui Sin Far was the pen name of Chinese-British-Canadian-American writer Edith Maude Eaton. The work is notable for being the earliest book of fiction published in the United States by an author of Chinese descent. — read by V — Support us: Listen ad-free on Patreon Get Snoozecast merch like cozy sweatshirts and accessories Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Composer Alex Ho, novelist Xiaolu Guo, curator George Young and director Anthony Lau join Rana Mitter to discuss a Cinderella story Ye Xian which has inspired a new music theatre piece, a new Manchester gallery display of Chinese life and history, a Brecht play set in China which looks at love, hospitality and goodness and a memoir which describes ideas about love and what it feels like to be based in a new city. Producer: Robyn Read George Young is Head of Exhibitions and Collections at the Manchester Museum which has re-opened with new galleries including the Lee Kai Hung Chinese Culture Gallery which features on display a late Qing dynasty (1636–1912) ‘Manchu' headdress decorated with blue kingfisher feathers, a 20-metre scroll showing Emperor Kangxi's birthday procession through the streets of Beijing in the 18th century and a taxidermy milu deer. Untold is a music theatre piece co-created by composer Alex Ho and creative director/choreographer Julia Cheng for premiere by Jasmine Chiu, Keith Pun, and Tangram at Concertgebouw Brugge in April 2023. Co-produced by Muziektheater Transparant, O.Festival Rotterdam, and Tangram, Untold won the FEDORA Opera Prize 2022 awarded at Opéra national de Paris. Anthony Lau is director of a version of Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan with a new adaptation by Nina Segal on at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield (Saturday 11 March - Saturday 1 April 2023) and then transferring to the Lyric Hammersmith (Saturday 15 April – Saturday 13 May). It is one of the first major revivals in the UK to have a creative team and company represented from the East Asian heritage where the play is set. Radical: A Life of My Own is being launched by Xiaolu Guo at the British Library on April 13th http://www.guoxiaolu.com/ You can find other conversations about Chinese culture on the Free Thinking programme website and available on BBC Sounds and as Arts & Ideas podcasts. They include discussions about World Politics, Ink Art and Insomnia https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0015vns China, Freud, War and Sci-Fi https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0014grr Bruce Lee's Film Enter the Dragon https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0015l7z Africa, Babel, China https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002h89 The Inscrutable Writing of Sui Sin Far https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000v9gl
WE'RE BACK WITH A NEW EPISODE ON FEBRUARY 7, 2023. In this week's episode, Amy and Kim have a conversation about Sui Sin Far and her wonderful short story collection, Mrs. Spring Fragrance (1912), with journalist and author Victoria Namkung, who has her Master's Degree in Asian American Studies from UCLA. Sui Sin Far, the pen name of Edith Maude Eaton, was a journalist and writer of Chinese and British descent who moved to the U.S. and began writing articles about what it was like to live as a Chinese woman in a white America. Learn more about Eaton and find out why, if you haven't already, you should find a spot on your bookshelf for the still-very-relevant Mrs. Spring Fragrance. Discussed in this episode: Victoria Namkung These Violent Delights by Victoria NamkungThe Things We Tell Ourselves by Victoria NamkungSui Sin Far's Mrs. Spring FragranceAnne Boyd Rioux in Episode 11Romeo and Juliet by William ShakespeareThe Original Fairytales of The Brothers GrimmA Japanese Nightingale by Onoto Watanna (Winifred Eaton)Becoming Sui Sin Far: Early Fiction and Travel Writing by Edith Maude EtonNisei's Daughter by Monica SoneLois-Ann YamanakaDiana ChangJessica HagedornBharati MukherjeeAsian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People by Helen ZiaFor episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.com Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast
After Iraq and Afghanistan, solider Harry Parker turned author and has written a study of the way robotics, computing and AI might be about to irrevocably alter our understanding of what it means to be human. Scientist and Radio 4 presenter Adam Rutherford's new book traces ideas about the perfect body and eugenics from the Spartans and Plato to present day politics and the pandemic. In her new book, philosopher and professor Clare Chambers argues that the unmodified body is a key principle of equality. While defending the right of anyone to change their bodies, she traces the way that the social pressure to modify send a powerful message: you are not good enough. They join Matthew Sweet alongside New Generation Thinker and academic at UCL, Xine Yao Hybrid Humans: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Man and Machine by Harry Parker is out now. Control: The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics by Adam Rutherford is out now. You can hear him discussing Genes, racism, ageing and evidence with guests including Daniel Levitin in a previous episode of Free Thinking https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000fpj2 Intact: A Defence of the Unmodified Body by Clare Chambers is out now. Xine Yao is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to turn research into radio. You can find an essay about The Inscrutable Writing of Sui Sin Far on BBC Sounds https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000v9gl and a discussion about Darwin's The Descent of Man (1871) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000s31z Producer: Luke Mulhall
Tonight, I'd like to introduce you to another incredible podcast that can help you fall asleep with ease. It's called Snoozecast, and it's hosted by my friend Vee. It offers sleep stories read in a way that will lull you to sleep. For tonight, Vee will read “The Forest of the Freed”, a fairy tale from a collection titled “Mrs. Spring Fragrance” written by Sui Sin Far, published in 1912. It is about a brother and sister who find themselves lost in a magical forest. If you enjoy tonight's sleep story, make sure to subscribe to the SNOOZECAST podcast by searching for it on your favorite podcast player or clicking HERE -> https://www.snoozecast.com/ Sweet dreams, beautiful.
Chinatown, New York, in 1890 was described by photo-journalist Jacob Riis as "disappointing." He focused only on images of opium dens and gambling and complained about the people living there being "secretive". But could withholding your emotions be a deliberate tactic rather than a crass stereotype of inscrutability? Xine Yao has been reading short stories from the collection Mrs. Spring Fragrance, published in 1912 by Sui Sin Far and her Essay looks at what links the Asian American Exclusion Act of 1882, the first American federal law to exclude people on the basis of national or ethnic origin, to writings by the Martinican philosopher Édouard Glissant. Producer: Caitlin Benedict. Xine Yao researches early and nineteenth-century American literature and teaches at University College London. She hosts a podcast PhDivas and you can hear her in Free Thinking discussions about Darwin's Descent of Man, Mould-breaking Writing and in a programme with Ian Rankin and Tahmima Anam where she talks about science fiction. New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to choose ten academics each year to turn their research into radio programmes.
Chinatown, New York, in 1890 was described by photo-journalist Jacob Riis as "disappointing." He focused only on images of opium dens and gambling and complained about the people living there being "secretive". But could withholding your emotions be a deliberate tactic rather than a crass stereotype of inscrutability? Xine Yao has been reading short stories from the collection Mrs. Spring Fragrance, published in 1912 by Sui Sin Far and her Essay looks at what links the Asian American Exclusion Act of 1882, the first American federal law to exclude people on the basis of national or ethnic origin, to writings by the Martinican philosopher Édouard Glissant. Producer: Caitlin Benedict. Xine Yao researches early and nineteenth-century American literature and teaches at University College London. She hosts a podcast PhDivas and you can hear her in Free Thinking discussions about Darwin's Descent of Man, Mould-breaking Writing and in a programme with Ian Rankin and Tahmima Anam where she talks about science fiction. New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to choose ten academics each year to turn their research into radio programmes. You can find more in this playlist on the Free Thinking website featuring discussions, essays and features from 10 years of the New Generation Thinkers scheme https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08zhs35
Tonight, we’ll read a story from a short story collection titled “Mrs. Spring Fragrance” written by Sui Sin Far, published in 1912. The story we will read, about two children who find themselves lost in a magical forest, was originally titled “The Banishment of Ming and Mai.”The author Sui Sin Far was the pen name of Chinese-British-Canadian-American writer Edith Maude Eaton. The work is notable for being the earliest book of fiction published in the United States by an author of Chinese descent.— read by 'V' —
In this week’s episode, Amy and Kim have a conversation about Sui Sin Far and her wonderful short story collection, Mrs. Spring Fragrance (1912), with journalist and author Victoria Namkung, who has her Master’s Degree in Asian American Studies from UCLA. Sui Sin Far, the pen name of Edith Maude Eaton, was a journalist and writer of Chinese and British descent who moved to the U.S. and began writing articles about what it was like to live as a Chinese woman in a white America. Learn more about Eaton and find out why, if you haven’t already, you should find a spot on your bookshelf for the still-very-relevant Mrs. Spring Fragrance.
Who was the first Chinese American writer to publish in America? Sui Sin Far, or Edith Maude Eaton, was born to a British father and Chinese mother who immigrated from England first to the U.S. and then to Montreal in 1873. She first published articles on the racist laws and practices that limited the civil rights and social standing of Chinese Canadians and Chinese Americans. Although she could have “passed” for a white woman under her Western name, she adopted the name Sui Sin Far and, during a time of intense Sinophobia, aligned herself with Chinese Americans. Far settled in San Francisco and then in Seattle’s small but growing Chinatown. With her stories, many of which feature Chinese American characters grappling with assimilation, cultural differences, and social conditions, she becomes one of the first authors to present a positive image of Chinese American life for general readers and is considered the first Asian American author to publish fiction in America. Her stories have been recognized by scholars for their literary merit. Her sense of irony, deft character descriptions and dynamic dialogue in situations specific to the Asian American and Asian Canadian communities render moral dilemmas with universal resonance. I spoke with one of the great experts on Sui Sin Far and her sister, Winnifred Eaton (Onoto Watanna): Professor Mary Chapman, Professor of English and Academic Director of the Public Humanities Hub at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, Canada, and author of Becoming Sui Sin Far: Early Fiction, Journalism and Travel Writing by Edith Eaton, who also directs a crucial website: https://www.winnifredeatonarchive.org/ /////////////// Follow us: TWITTER - @ulibaer INSTAGRAM - @uli.baer (THINK ABOUT IT PODCAST) - @thinkaboutit.podcast //////////////// Listen to the Podcast on: APPLE PODCASTS - Think About It Podcast SPOTIFY - Think About It Podcast YOUTUBE: Ulrich Baer //////////////// Thanks for listening! :)
This episode focuses broadly on digital humanities research and pedagogy in the field of nineteenth-century American Studies, with special consideration given to the varied affordances of infrastructure at different institutions. DH beginner Spencer Tricker interviews Brad Rittenhouse about his project “TMI” (“Too Much Information”), which uses quantitative speech analysis to explore trends in the way that nineteenth-century writers--both professional and otherwise--represented information overload in an era of intense urbanization and technological change. They discuss how collaborative digital methods can help to resituate work by women and people of color who were writing in formats historically excluded from literary study, reflecting on how this might shift perspectives on how an author like Sui Sin Far used intertextuality in her short fiction. They conclude with a practical discussion of digital resources that instructors can use to teach C19 literature and culture in the classroom. This episode was produced by Spencer Tricker (Longwood University) and Brad Rittenhouse (Georgia Institute of Technology). Additional production support from Ashley Rattner (Tusculum University). Full episode transcript including linked resources available here: https://bit.ly/C19PodcastS03E05.
Becoming Sui Sin Far: Early Fiction, Journalism and Travel Writing of Edith Maude Eaton (McGill-Queens University Press, 2016) is a collection of works–previously published and newly discovered–produced by Edith Eaton, the writer whose literary status seems to escape the limitations of definitions and categorizations. Sui Sin Far is one of the pseudonyms Eaton invented: this gesture can also be presented as an attempt to escape the limitations of, so to speak, one life. Through compiling Eaton’s diverse oeuvre, Mary Chapman, the editor of the collection, presents her vision of Eaton, initiating the reconsideration of the stereotypical reading of Eaton as the writer who was interested predominantly in the exploration of the themes connected with Chinese immigrants in Canada and in the US. The current edition includes four main parts that present the trajectory of Eaton’s writing: “Early Montreal Fiction, Poetry, and Literary Sketches (1888-1891)”;” Selected Early Journalism: Montreal (1890-1896)”; “Selected Early Journalism: Jamaica (1897-1897)”; “Selected Later Fiction (1896-1906)”; “Cross-Continental Writing (1904)”. Having conducted a careful and detailed investigative work, Chapman not only adds new details to the existing portrait of Eaton but also pinpoints aspects that highlight sides–literary, cultural, sociological, political–that have been dismissed or disregarded before. Thus, as the collection demonstrates, Eaton can be characterized by an exclusive ability of curiosity and constant exploration of diverse themes, ranging from observations of trivial life situations to acute insights into the individual’s psychology and ironic remarks concerning social, economic, political issues that were accompanying the era which Eaton happened to witness. Whichever episode Eaton may write, she seems to be indefatigably pursuing the topic that can be claimed to be a link connecting a diversity of fiction and/or journalistic pieces: individuality. The first part of the collection opens with an eloquent statement: “After all I have no nationality and am not anxious to claim any. Individuality is more that nationality (“Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian, 230″).” Eaton’s diverse writing can be interpreted as an attempt to explore her own individuality and to discover writing as traveling: through writing Eaton obtains access to unlimited space of imagination, subverting the boundaries of national, gender, racial, social, political, or literary conventions. Highlighting Eaton’s diverse oeuvre, Chapman shifts an emphasis from national topics (American, Chinese, or Canadian) to transnationalism and transculturalism, contributing to the decoding of Eaton’s understanding of individuality. In the introduction that accompanies the collection, Chapman argues for Eaton’s in-betweeness: Eaton surpasses the boundaries of Asian American and Asian Canadian literature. Chapman’s discussion of Eaton that emphasizes the blurry boundaries of nationhood and invites the conversation about nation formation from the stand point of shifting concepts contributes to the reconsideration of literary canons. Dr. Mary Chapman is Professor of English and Acting Chair of Arts Studies in the Department of English at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Chapman is the author of Making Noise, Making News: Suffrage Print Culture and US Modernism; and a co-editor of Treacherous Texts: An Anthology of US Suffrage Literature. She also has numerous publications in academic journals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Becoming Sui Sin Far: Early Fiction, Journalism and Travel Writing of Edith Maude Eaton (McGill-Queens University Press, 2016) is a collection of works–previously published and newly discovered–produced by Edith Eaton, the writer whose literary status seems to escape the limitations of definitions and categorizations. Sui Sin Far is one of the pseudonyms Eaton invented: this gesture can also be presented as an attempt to escape the limitations of, so to speak, one life. Through compiling Eaton’s diverse oeuvre, Mary Chapman, the editor of the collection, presents her vision of Eaton, initiating the reconsideration of the stereotypical reading of Eaton as the writer who was interested predominantly in the exploration of the themes connected with Chinese immigrants in Canada and in the US. The current edition includes four main parts that present the trajectory of Eaton’s writing: “Early Montreal Fiction, Poetry, and Literary Sketches (1888-1891)”;” Selected Early Journalism: Montreal (1890-1896)”; “Selected Early Journalism: Jamaica (1897-1897)”; “Selected Later Fiction (1896-1906)”; “Cross-Continental Writing (1904)”. Having conducted a careful and detailed investigative work, Chapman not only adds new details to the existing portrait of Eaton but also pinpoints aspects that highlight sides–literary, cultural, sociological, political–that have been dismissed or disregarded before. Thus, as the collection demonstrates, Eaton can be characterized by an exclusive ability of curiosity and constant exploration of diverse themes, ranging from observations of trivial life situations to acute insights into the individual’s psychology and ironic remarks concerning social, economic, political issues that were accompanying the era which Eaton happened to witness. Whichever episode Eaton may write, she seems to be indefatigably pursuing the topic that can be claimed to be a link connecting a diversity of fiction and/or journalistic pieces: individuality. The first part of the collection opens with an eloquent statement: “After all I have no nationality and am not anxious to claim any. Individuality is more that nationality (“Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian, 230″).” Eaton’s diverse writing can be interpreted as an attempt to explore her own individuality and to discover writing as traveling: through writing Eaton obtains access to unlimited space of imagination, subverting the boundaries of national, gender, racial, social, political, or literary conventions. Highlighting Eaton’s diverse oeuvre, Chapman shifts an emphasis from national topics (American, Chinese, or Canadian) to transnationalism and transculturalism, contributing to the decoding of Eaton’s understanding of individuality. In the introduction that accompanies the collection, Chapman argues for Eaton’s in-betweeness: Eaton surpasses the boundaries of Asian American and Asian Canadian literature. Chapman’s discussion of Eaton that emphasizes the blurry boundaries of nationhood and invites the conversation about nation formation from the stand point of shifting concepts contributes to the reconsideration of literary canons. Dr. Mary Chapman is Professor of English and Acting Chair of Arts Studies in the Department of English at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Chapman is the author of Making Noise, Making News: Suffrage Print Culture and US Modernism; and a co-editor of Treacherous Texts: An Anthology of US Suffrage Literature. She also has numerous publications in academic journals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Becoming Sui Sin Far: Early Fiction, Journalism and Travel Writing of Edith Maude Eaton (McGill-Queens University Press, 2016) is a collection of works–previously published and newly discovered–produced by Edith Eaton, the writer whose literary status seems to escape the limitations of definitions and categorizations. Sui Sin Far is one of the pseudonyms Eaton invented: this gesture can also be presented as an attempt to escape the limitations of, so to speak, one life. Through compiling Eaton’s diverse oeuvre, Mary Chapman, the editor of the collection, presents her vision of Eaton, initiating the reconsideration of the stereotypical reading of Eaton as the writer who was interested predominantly in the exploration of the themes connected with Chinese immigrants in Canada and in the US. The current edition includes four main parts that present the trajectory of Eaton’s writing: “Early Montreal Fiction, Poetry, and Literary Sketches (1888-1891)”;” Selected Early Journalism: Montreal (1890-1896)”; “Selected Early Journalism: Jamaica (1897-1897)”; “Selected Later Fiction (1896-1906)”; “Cross-Continental Writing (1904)”. Having conducted a careful and detailed investigative work, Chapman not only adds new details to the existing portrait of Eaton but also pinpoints aspects that highlight sides–literary, cultural, sociological, political–that have been dismissed or disregarded before. Thus, as the collection demonstrates, Eaton can be characterized by an exclusive ability of curiosity and constant exploration of diverse themes, ranging from observations of trivial life situations to acute insights into the individual’s psychology and ironic remarks concerning social, economic, political issues that were accompanying the era which Eaton happened to witness. Whichever episode Eaton may write, she seems to be indefatigably pursuing the topic that can be claimed to be a link connecting a diversity of fiction and/or journalistic pieces: individuality. The first part of the collection opens with an eloquent statement: “After all I have no nationality and am not anxious to claim any. Individuality is more that nationality (“Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian, 230″).” Eaton’s diverse writing can be interpreted as an attempt to explore her own individuality and to discover writing as traveling: through writing Eaton obtains access to unlimited space of imagination, subverting the boundaries of national, gender, racial, social, political, or literary conventions. Highlighting Eaton’s diverse oeuvre, Chapman shifts an emphasis from national topics (American, Chinese, or Canadian) to transnationalism and transculturalism, contributing to the decoding of Eaton’s understanding of individuality. In the introduction that accompanies the collection, Chapman argues for Eaton’s in-betweeness: Eaton surpasses the boundaries of Asian American and Asian Canadian literature. Chapman’s discussion of Eaton that emphasizes the blurry boundaries of nationhood and invites the conversation about nation formation from the stand point of shifting concepts contributes to the reconsideration of literary canons. Dr. Mary Chapman is Professor of English and Acting Chair of Arts Studies in the Department of English at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Chapman is the author of Making Noise, Making News: Suffrage Print Culture and US Modernism; and a co-editor of Treacherous Texts: An Anthology of US Suffrage Literature. She also has numerous publications in academic journals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Becoming Sui Sin Far: Early Fiction, Journalism and Travel Writing of Edith Maude Eaton (McGill-Queens University Press, 2016) is a collection of works–previously published and newly discovered–produced by Edith Eaton, the writer whose literary status seems to escape the limitations of definitions and categorizations. Sui Sin Far is one of the pseudonyms Eaton invented: this gesture can also be presented as an attempt to escape the limitations of, so to speak, one life. Through compiling Eaton’s diverse oeuvre, Mary Chapman, the editor of the collection, presents her vision of Eaton, initiating the reconsideration of the stereotypical reading of Eaton as the writer who was interested predominantly in the exploration of the themes connected with Chinese immigrants in Canada and in the US. The current edition includes four main parts that present the trajectory of Eaton’s writing: “Early Montreal Fiction, Poetry, and Literary Sketches (1888-1891)”;” Selected Early Journalism: Montreal (1890-1896)”; “Selected Early Journalism: Jamaica (1897-1897)”; “Selected Later Fiction (1896-1906)”; “Cross-Continental Writing (1904)”. Having conducted a careful and detailed investigative work, Chapman not only adds new details to the existing portrait of Eaton but also pinpoints aspects that highlight sides–literary, cultural, sociological, political–that have been dismissed or disregarded before. Thus, as the collection demonstrates, Eaton can be characterized by an exclusive ability of curiosity and constant exploration of diverse themes, ranging from observations of trivial life situations to acute insights into the individual’s psychology and ironic remarks concerning social, economic, political issues that were accompanying the era which Eaton happened to witness. Whichever episode Eaton may write, she seems to be indefatigably pursuing the topic that can be claimed to be a link connecting a diversity of fiction and/or journalistic pieces: individuality. The first part of the collection opens with an eloquent statement: “After all I have no nationality and am not anxious to claim any. Individuality is more that nationality (“Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian, 230″).” Eaton’s diverse writing can be interpreted as an attempt to explore her own individuality and to discover writing as traveling: through writing Eaton obtains access to unlimited space of imagination, subverting the boundaries of national, gender, racial, social, political, or literary conventions. Highlighting Eaton’s diverse oeuvre, Chapman shifts an emphasis from national topics (American, Chinese, or Canadian) to transnationalism and transculturalism, contributing to the decoding of Eaton’s understanding of individuality. In the introduction that accompanies the collection, Chapman argues for Eaton’s in-betweeness: Eaton surpasses the boundaries of Asian American and Asian Canadian literature. Chapman’s discussion of Eaton that emphasizes the blurry boundaries of nationhood and invites the conversation about nation formation from the stand point of shifting concepts contributes to the reconsideration of literary canons. Dr. Mary Chapman is Professor of English and Acting Chair of Arts Studies in the Department of English at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Chapman is the author of Making Noise, Making News: Suffrage Print Culture and US Modernism; and a co-editor of Treacherous Texts: An Anthology of US Suffrage Literature. She also has numerous publications in academic journals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Becoming Sui Sin Far: Early Fiction, Journalism and Travel Writing of Edith Maude Eaton (McGill-Queens University Press, 2016) is a collection of works–previously published and newly discovered–produced by Edith Eaton, the writer whose literary status seems to escape the limitations of definitions and categorizations. Sui Sin Far is one of the pseudonyms Eaton invented: this gesture can also be presented as an attempt to escape the limitations of, so to speak, one life. Through compiling Eaton’s diverse oeuvre, Mary Chapman, the editor of the collection, presents her vision of Eaton, initiating the reconsideration of the stereotypical reading of Eaton as the writer who was interested predominantly in the exploration of the themes connected with Chinese immigrants in Canada and in the US. The current edition includes four main parts that present the trajectory of Eaton’s writing: “Early Montreal Fiction, Poetry, and Literary Sketches (1888-1891)”;” Selected Early Journalism: Montreal (1890-1896)”; “Selected Early Journalism: Jamaica (1897-1897)”; “Selected Later Fiction (1896-1906)”; “Cross-Continental Writing (1904)”. Having conducted a careful and detailed investigative work, Chapman not only adds new details to the existing portrait of Eaton but also pinpoints aspects that highlight sides–literary, cultural, sociological, political–that have been dismissed or disregarded before. Thus, as the collection demonstrates, Eaton can be characterized by an exclusive ability of curiosity and constant exploration of diverse themes, ranging from observations of trivial life situations to acute insights into the individual’s psychology and ironic remarks concerning social, economic, political issues that were accompanying the era which Eaton happened to witness. Whichever episode Eaton may write, she seems to be indefatigably pursuing the topic that can be claimed to be a link connecting a diversity of fiction and/or journalistic pieces: individuality. The first part of the collection opens with an eloquent statement: “After all I have no nationality and am not anxious to claim any. Individuality is more that nationality (“Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian, 230″).” Eaton’s diverse writing can be interpreted as an attempt to explore her own individuality and to discover writing as traveling: through writing Eaton obtains access to unlimited space of imagination, subverting the boundaries of national, gender, racial, social, political, or literary conventions. Highlighting Eaton’s diverse oeuvre, Chapman shifts an emphasis from national topics (American, Chinese, or Canadian) to transnationalism and transculturalism, contributing to the decoding of Eaton’s understanding of individuality. In the introduction that accompanies the collection, Chapman argues for Eaton’s in-betweeness: Eaton surpasses the boundaries of Asian American and Asian Canadian literature. Chapman’s discussion of Eaton that emphasizes the blurry boundaries of nationhood and invites the conversation about nation formation from the stand point of shifting concepts contributes to the reconsideration of literary canons. Dr. Mary Chapman is Professor of English and Acting Chair of Arts Studies in the Department of English at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Chapman is the author of Making Noise, Making News: Suffrage Print Culture and US Modernism; and a co-editor of Treacherous Texts: An Anthology of US Suffrage Literature. She also has numerous publications in academic journals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Becoming Sui Sin Far: Early Fiction, Journalism and Travel Writing of Edith Maude Eaton (McGill-Queens University Press, 2016) is a collection of works–previously published and newly discovered–produced by Edith Eaton, the writer whose literary status seems to escape the limitations of definitions and categorizations. Sui Sin Far is one of the pseudonyms Eaton invented: this gesture can also be presented as an attempt to escape the limitations of, so to speak, one life. Through compiling Eaton’s diverse oeuvre, Mary Chapman, the editor of the collection, presents her vision of Eaton, initiating the reconsideration of the stereotypical reading of Eaton as the writer who was interested predominantly in the exploration of the themes connected with Chinese immigrants in Canada and in the US. The current edition includes four main parts that present the trajectory of Eaton’s writing: “Early Montreal Fiction, Poetry, and Literary Sketches (1888-1891)”;” Selected Early Journalism: Montreal (1890-1896)”; “Selected Early Journalism: Jamaica (1897-1897)”; “Selected Later Fiction (1896-1906)”; “Cross-Continental Writing (1904)”. Having conducted a careful and detailed investigative work, Chapman not only adds new details to the existing portrait of Eaton but also pinpoints aspects that highlight sides–literary, cultural, sociological, political–that have been dismissed or disregarded before. Thus, as the collection demonstrates, Eaton can be characterized by an exclusive ability of curiosity and constant exploration of diverse themes, ranging from observations of trivial life situations to acute insights into the individual’s psychology and ironic remarks concerning social, economic, political issues that were accompanying the era which Eaton happened to witness. Whichever episode Eaton may write, she seems to be indefatigably pursuing the topic that can be claimed to be a link connecting a diversity of fiction and/or journalistic pieces: individuality. The first part of the collection opens with an eloquent statement: “After all I have no nationality and am not anxious to claim any. Individuality is more that nationality (“Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian, 230″).” Eaton’s diverse writing can be interpreted as an attempt to explore her own individuality and to discover writing as traveling: through writing Eaton obtains access to unlimited space of imagination, subverting the boundaries of national, gender, racial, social, political, or literary conventions. Highlighting Eaton’s diverse oeuvre, Chapman shifts an emphasis from national topics (American, Chinese, or Canadian) to transnationalism and transculturalism, contributing to the decoding of Eaton’s understanding of individuality. In the introduction that accompanies the collection, Chapman argues for Eaton’s in-betweeness: Eaton surpasses the boundaries of Asian American and Asian Canadian literature. Chapman’s discussion of Eaton that emphasizes the blurry boundaries of nationhood and invites the conversation about nation formation from the stand point of shifting concepts contributes to the reconsideration of literary canons. Dr. Mary Chapman is Professor of English and Acting Chair of Arts Studies in the Department of English at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Chapman is the author of Making Noise, Making News: Suffrage Print Culture and US Modernism; and a co-editor of Treacherous Texts: An Anthology of US Suffrage Literature. She also has numerous publications in academic journals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices