Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories. Revised and Updated with four new stories. [Paperback]

Hisaye Yamamoto (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 10, 2001

Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories brings together fifteen stories that span Hisaye Yamamoto's forty-year career. It was her first book to be published in the United States. Yamamoto's themes include the cultural conflicts between the first generation, the Issei and their children, the Nisei; coping with prejudice; and the World War II internment of Japanese Americans.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Imbued with the serenity of authority, these stories ably conduct the reader through the Japanese experience in America, from the oil fields of Redondo Beach to the internment camps of WW II, through the lives of young and old as they confront American customs, manners and culture. Yamamoto's stories also depict the stained relationships between Japanese immigrants and the nisei (American-born Japanese). Yet the author does not confine herself to ethnic issues. In "The High-Heeled Shoes: A Memoir," for example, the subtle forms of sexual harassment are delineated; a woman's obsession with expressing herself through the condensed poetry of haiku, and her husband's objections are explored in the title story. The inexplicable tragedies of everyday lifean inconsolable mourner, a desertion by a friend, the endless quest for an illusory prosperity (as in the stories "The Brown House" and "Las Vegas Charley)are underscored by a forlorn nostalgia for a history and a culture that fails to be transmitted from one generation to the next. Yamamoto, the daughter of Japanese immigrants, makes a welcome American debut.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

The writing of history and the telling of stories are in our time very different. But these stories about the daily lives of Japanese American women in and out of the World War II internment camps of the United States are history and her story. The women are gutsy or fragile-that is, like any of us would be caught in exile while at home. The stories are beautifully written so we feel them even more deeply -- Grace Paley

These remarkable stories are written with the proportion and craft of the masters-there are hints of Chekhov, Elizabeth Bowen, Katherine Mansfield, and Grace Paley....Each of the fifteen short stories, written with the economy of haiku, is a treasure -- Booklist

You can imagine my delight to learn that a collection of her work is now finally seeing the light of day. How good that feels. At least more people will be touched by the grace that flows through Hisaye Yamamoto's pen. The world be a better place because of it -- Joy Kogawa --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 206 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press; Revised edition (May 10, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813529530
• ISBN-13: 978-0813529530
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #403,821 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stories of Asian-American life, October 14, 2001

By 

Michael J. Mazza - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories. Revised and Updated with four new stories. (Paperback)

"Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories," by Hisaye Yamamoto, was first published in 1988. The revised and expanded edition adds 4 more stories, for a total of 19. Yamamoto was born in 1921 in California to parents who were immigrants from Japan, and hers is one of the most remarkable voices in 20th century United States literature. These stories originally were written or published between 1942 and 1995, and thus represent many decades of Yamamoto's literary career.

Her style is a blend of delicacy and determined passion. The book as a whole strikes a balance between tragedy and tenderness, and her best stories are quite moving. Yamamoto's stories mainly have Japanese-American female protagonists, and offer glimpses into many decades of Japanese-American life. Some topics include troubled marriages, crippling addictions, racism, and relations among the many ethnic groups of the U.S.

Some stories deal with the experience of Japanese-Americans who were incarcerated in concentration camps by their own government during World War II. Other important themes include the human toll of World War II on those Japanese Americans who lost family members in the war, and the cultural shift between generations in Japanese-American families.

The four new stories in the expanded edition are "Death Rides the Rails in Poston," a murder mystery; "Eucalyptus," about a woman's experience in a mental facility; "A Fire in Fontana," about a Japanese-American woman's connection to the African-American community; and "Florentine Gardens," which centers around a visit to a military cemetery in Italy.

Hisaye Yamamoto's work is highly regarded by many, and many of her stories have been anthologized (which is how I first read her work). It is wonderful to have her stories brought together in one volume; I feel richer for having read "Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories." One final note: as a fitting complement to the title story of this collection, I recommend Richard Wright's book "Haiku: This Other World."

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A valuable document of the Japanese American experience, April 24, 2003

By 

David Bonesteel (Fresno, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Seventeen Syllables (Paperback)

Hisaye Yamamoto was not a prolific writer, but her output of fine short stories spans decades. Central themes include assimilation and the loss of traditional cultural values, troubled marraiges, and, of course, the shameful internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. As a writer who was raised in the culture and who originally published many of these stories in Japanese American publications for a largely Japanese American audience, she produces uniquely authentic accounts of a lifestyle that has largely disappeared. Here are the farms, the oil fields, the New Year's celebrations, the dusty internment camps, the tragic generation gaps, the hopes, dreams, and loneliness of a people who are inclined to remain quiet about personal matters--these stories present a fully developed portrait of the Japanese experience in American and its consequences. Highly recommended.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gem-like stories, April 26, 2000

By 

April Wilson (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Seventeen Syllables (Paperback)

These stories are beautiful, sensitive, thoughtful, and occasionally painful in their depiction of the condition, not only of Japanese- Americans, but of anyone who lives slightly off the beaten track. She writes with kindness, humor, and insight. I especially liked "The Legend of Miss Sassasagawara" and "Wilshire Bus," as well as the interview with her. Her stories remind me of Faulkner's and Flannery O'Connor's. If she had written more, I am certain she would have been better known.