Obasan | The Importance of Ambiguity, Irony, and Paradox
In the following essay, Anthony Dykema-VanderArk analyzes the importance of ambiguity, irony, and paradox in Obasan.
Since its publication in 1981, Joy Kogawa's Obasan has assumed an important place in Canadian literature and in the broadly-defined, Asian-American literary canon. Reviewers immediately heralded the novel for its poetic force and its moving portrayal of an often-ignored aspect of Canadian and American history. Since then, critics have expanded upon this initial commentary to examine more closely the themes and images in Kogawa's work. Critical attention has focused on the difficulties and ambiguities of what is, in more ways than one, a challenging novel. The complexity of...
[The entire page is 1845 words long]
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