Obasan | Essays and Criticism

  • The Importance of Ambiguity, Irony, and Paradox

    In the following essay, Anthony Dykema-VanderArk analyzes the importance of ambiguity, irony, and paradox in Obasan.

  • Attentive Silence: Obasan

    In the following essay, King-Kok Cheung not only points out the difference between a Eurocentric and Oriental understanding of "silence" but also makes three further distinctions—protective, stoic, and attentive silences—and Kogawa's attitude toward them in Obasan.

  • The Silences That Speak from Stone

    In the following positive review, Edward M. White praises Kogawa's depictions of suffering, injustice, and survival within the context of specific historical events in Obasan.