Mothertalk: wrapup discussion

Our in-person discussion on Saturday was an intimate, but engaging experience. I'd like to share some of what we discussed for those of you who weren't able to join us here at the museum. And there's no reason the discussion has to end with last Saturday - if you weren't able to join us then, or if you've had more ideas since, please add your thoughts in the comments! And remember that I'll be making posts about our next book, Chorus of Mushrooms by Hiromi Goto, starting this week, so check back on Thursday for that!

We talked about Mothertalk as, as Hiromi Goto puts it on the back cover of the book, "Roy Kiyooka's biography of his mother". It seems more like a memoir, because it's written in first person, but - and without seeing the different working drafts for the book, we're mostly just speculating on this - Roy seems to have arranged his mother's stories as his raw material, like a composer might create a score from existing melodies woven together in new ways. And Daphne Marlatt describes, in her introduction, what sound like rather significant alterations that she made to Roy's manuscript upon his death. I think his death while working on Mothertalk changed the book significantly - completed by his loved ones afterwards, it becomes not just Mary's biography, but also a tribute to Roy and his own work as an artist. This is especially apparent with the inclusion of pieces of his poetry at the beginning of each section of the book. What do you think of this decision? Did you enjoy the poetry, or find it distracting? And do you agree with those of us on Saturday who felt that Roy was indeed the author of the book? What about the role of Daphne Marlatt, or Mary herself - are they also authors of Mothertalk?

Here's a topic for debate: is Mary a typical Issei woman?

On the yes side, we came up with: she bluntly tells us about the harsh conditions for immigrants in Canada, about the circumstances and difficulties of her marriage, and also her acceptance of those difficulties and her choice to stay with her husband, no matter what, for the sake of the children. While other Issei are not always so forthcoming in telling about these difficulties, they do seem to be there in most cases. Mary also seems characteristically Issei due to her enduring love and longing for, and connection to her homeland in Japan, and also from her unbelievable toughness in the face of a life completely different from anything she could have expected, and her willingness to make the best of it.

On the no side: while many families from the samurai class emigrated around the time that Mary did, it was less usual for her to marry outside of the class, and to marry someone already living abroad. And more than that, it was exceptional that she was trained in Iai by her father. Some felt it was a shame that she didn't take over for him!

Do you have anything to add for either side? Is there enough here to make a final judgement of overall "yes", she is a typical Issei woman, or "no", she isn't?

We noticed that most of the women that Mary mentions in Mothertalk, outside of her family, were at some point involved with some kind of prostitution. What does this say about the world she lived in? What kind of attitude does Mary have towards these women, and is that attitude typical for someone of her generation, or progressive?

Do you agree with Mary's decision throughout her life to marry and stay with her husband? Would you have done the same, or when do you think you would have left?

What do you make of the ghost stories? Those of us at the museum on Saturday liked them very much and felt they were part of the Japanese sensibility of the book. But while most of the ghosts Mary describes were in Japan, there is one ghost she mentions that was in Roy's house in Canada (near the end of part 6). What does this tell us about Mary's world, in Japan and in Canada?

Another question, maybe related to the last: are there any parts of the book where you don't believe Mary's version of her story? In addition to the ghost stories, I'm also thinking of the times when Marlatt has added endnotes where Mary's children disagree with what Mary says. Does it matter whose version of the story is how things actually happened?

And there's certainly even more to discuss than what I've already mentioned here. Please share any thoughts you have on Mothertalk in the comments, whether related to these questions or not. And thank you for reading this lovely book along with me. I hope you'll also join me in reading the Asian Canadian favourite Chorus of Mushrooms!

-Carolyn