Quiet Fire
A Historical Anthology of Asian American Poetry, 1892-1970
Published on 8. July 1998
Book
Paperback/Softback
164 pages
978-1-889876-02-3 (ISBN)
Description
This landmark anthology provide the first historical survey of Asian American poetry. The poems were selected to reflect both the high quality and wide range of Asian American poetic discourse. The anthology begins with writings from the 1890s by Sadakichi Harmann and Yone Noguchi and includes poems by Jun Fujita (1923), Bunishi Kagawa (1930), Hisaye Yamamoto (1940), Diana Change 91946) , and others. Earlly work by well-known writers Joy Kogawa, Jessica Hagedorn, and Lawson Inada are also represented. Essays by Fay Chiang, Eric Chock, Alan Chong Lau, Kimiko Hahn, and Gerry Shikatani give an overview of regional Asian American poetry scenes from the 1970s through the 1990s, and the editor provides a complete bibliography of published volumes of Asian American poetry. An important source book, Quiet Fire makes a significant contribution to the remapping of American poetry and Asian American literature.
Reviews / Votes
"This compilation of Asian-American Poetry from 1892 to 1970 recovers Asian-American poetic history, a recovery that acts "against amnesia," in Adrienne Rich's phrase. This dominant, selective construction of U.S. literary history has rendered writers of color either "minor" or invisible, cutting off contemporary writers and readers from Asian-American poetic histories, traditions, legacies. This anthology is intended to serve as an archival counter-memory, illuminating the gaps in what has been presented as "American poetry" and "American culture." --From the IntroductionMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Philadelphia PA
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 230 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-889876-02-3 (9781889876023)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Juliana Chang is Assistant Professor of English at Boston College and is currently working on a book-length study of Asian American poetry.
Content
CONTENTS Acknowledgments Introduction Sadakichi Harmann "Cynanogen Seas are Surging" "Cathedral Sacrilege" "Darkness in Space" "To the 'Flat-Iron'" "Tanka I" "Tanka III" Yone Noguchi "Seas of Loneliness" "Lines" "In Japan Beyond" "To Robert Browning" Anonymous Hole-hole Bushi Anonymous From: Songs of Gold Mountain Jun Fujita "To Elizabeth" "Miriam" "Michigan Boulevard" "Chicago River" Wen I-To "The Laundry Song Masao Handa "I Am a Firefly" H. T. Tsiang "Shantung" "Chinaman, Laundryman" "Rickshaw Boy" "He was Satirizing" Bunichi Kagawa "One Sun" "Hunger" "Silent Intimacy" "Hidden Flame" Moon Kwan "To Witter Bynner" "Air Ride" "Coolie Song" Anonymous From: Island Toyo Suyemoto "Dusk" "Attitude" "The Dream" "Rationalized" "In Topaz" "Hokku" "Retrospect" Hisaye Yamamoto "Et Ego In America Vixi" "Spring Dirge" Charles Yu "In America" "White Night in Chicago" Jose Garcia Villa 57 Untitled ("When,I") Diana Chang "At the Window" Carlos Bulosan "Factory Town" "Biography" "If You Want to Know" Sojin Takei Untitled Iwao Kawakami "Pebble" "Transcontinental" "Iseult" Keiho Soga Untitled Various From: Sounds from the Unknown: A Collection of Japanese-American Tanka Fred Wah "They are Burning" "Mountain" Suniti Namjoshi "Pinocchio" Joy Kogawa "Jacob -- For Wes" "Righteous Cleansing" Jessica Tarahata Hagedorn "Fillmore Street Poems: August, 1967" "A Script: Beauty is the beginning of terror" Chandra, G. S. Sharat "Bharata Natyam Dancer" Wong May "Spring Comes to Kresge Co." "Bastard" M. Lakshmi Gill "Rain" Lawson Inada "West Side Songs" Yuki Hartman Untitled Biographical Notes Appendix A: Reminiscences Appendix B: Bibliography