Mrs. Spring Fragrance and Other Writings (Asian American Experience) - Softcover

Sui Sin Far

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0252064194 ISBN 13: 9780252064197

Publisher: University of Illinois Press, 1995

Synopsis

Stories from the turn of the century recounting the experiences of a Chinese immigrant woman who becomes Americanized and of the spouses and children in mixed marriages are accompanied by essays on related themes

About this title

From the Back Cover:

This volume presents stories from Mrs. Spring Fragrance and uncollected stories and journalistic essays by the first published Asian North American fiction writer.

From Publishers Weekly:

The author, the daughter of a Chinese mother and a British father, whose family eventually settled in Montreal, wrote these stories and articles in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and they have held up well, both as works of literature and as snapshots of their time. The first half of the book is a group of stories first published in 1912. Mrs. Spring Fragrance is a Chinese woman transplanted to Seattle who both pleases and perplexes her Chinese husband by becoming ``Americanized.'' Many of Far's characters are caught in the bewildering expanse between Chinese and white communities. In ``Its Wavering Image,'' a white reporter courts a woman who is the child of a white woman and a Chinese man, insisting, ``You are a white woman--white. Did your kiss not promise me that?'' ``The Story of One White Woman Who Married a Chinese'' follows its protagonist through two marriages, first to an abusive white man who, though he talks about writing a book on social reform and suffrage, derides her as stupid, then to a Chinese man for whom she does embroidery. The latter part of the book contains a few uncollected short stories, but consists mostly of articles Far wrote about the Chinese community. One chronicles the fate of ``Half-Chinese Children,'' while another gives a straightforward account of the customs ``In Los Angeles' Chinatown.'' There is a dignified, formal quality to Far's writing that helps capture a moment. This collection is a fine tribute to one of the brave early mothers of multiculturalism.

Copyright 1995 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0252064194
• ISBN 13: 9780252064197
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 312
• Editor: Amy Ling, Annette White-Parks