|
Discussion
Questions
1. The narrator
of The Strangeness of Beauty announces at the
book's opening that she is writing an "I-story." What
is the significance of the I-story in Japanese culture?
How is autobiographical writing especially important
for immigrant cultures in the United States? What
are some other outlets for the "confessional angst"
that the narrator says drives the writer of an I-story?
Why do you think the author has chosen to write a
novelization of an I-story?
2. Kobe is an old port city with
a history of art and international culture. Seattle
is an upstart city in a young country. We tend to
associate old cities with provincialism and young
cities with dynamism. Yet is this always the case?
Compare the cultural life of Kobe in the early part
of the twentieth century to that of Seattle.
3. Hanae is born an American but
is viewed as a Japanese alien by American culture.
When she travels to Japan, she is seen as too American.
Think about the complex relationship that children
of immigrants have with America and with the original
culture of their parents.
4. Consider the idea of kata, or
form. Etsuko identifies the Japanese importance of
form, and explains that the Japanese have a proper
way of performing each action, a proper mode of behavior
for each situation, even a proper language for each
kind of literature and each social interaction. She
considers kata to be the most alienating aspect of
Japanese culture to Americans. Consider what might
be particularly "American" attributes; how might some
of these characteristics clash with kata? Another
way of thinking of kata is as ritual. Think of rituals
you practice; could these be considered katas? Would
you like to incorporate some elements of kata in your
life?
5. The author has said that one
of her intentions was to blur the boundaries between
ideas of "us" and "them." How successful do you feel
she was? In what ways did you identify with these
characters? Were you able to identify with parts of
characters you initially may have found unappealing?
With characters who seemed different from you? Was
there a point when you began thinking of Hanae (or
even Etsuko) as American or Japanese American rather
than as Japanese?
6. The Strangeness of Beauty
is, in many ways, a self-reflective book. As the narrator
constantly steps outside the narrative to comment
on her writing or the book, we become aware that the
characters we are reading about are being actively
created and changed as we read. How do these constantly
shifting characters affect the way we read this book?
What is the reader's relationship to the narrator?
To the author?
7. Etsuko wonders if being a woman
"hinders" her writing. She says she can't create traditional
"heroes" engaged in large epic acts. Do you think
this is true? Consider the role of gender in literature
|the speaker's gender as well as the author's gender.
Are there certain kinds of writing best limited to
one gender? What about certain subjects?
8. When main characters provide
a perspective from outside mainstream American culture,
they often do two things for the reader. They may
provide views of the outside culture (its values,
customs, systems of thought) that are fresh, interesting,
and illuminating and that may show it as less confusing,
mysterious, or alien than we had thought. They may
also provide a fresh perspective on American culture,
showing how values, customs, and systems of thought
that we may have assumed were universal can be seen
by outsiders as confusing, confounding, and humorously
idiosyncratic to American culture. Can you find instances
in this book where you enjoyed learning something
about another culture and where you enjoyed learning
something about your own?
9. Etsuko's cooking may be seen
only as comic relief. It may also be seen as a way
for the author to comment on the ideas of creativity,
the determination to create one's own world, and the
courage to risk public failure. What other behaviors
does Etsuko exhibit, what actions does she take, what
people does she admire, that support the idea that
her cooking is more than a joke?
10. Think of the women's political
group. What tactics did they use to find information
and distribute it? How did the "female-ness" of the
group help them?
11. Masao compares Etsuko's peace
pamphlets to parents chanting prayers over their babies,
or the women who sew "bulletproof" belts for their
enlisted sons. Is this a fair comparison, or a cynical
one? In what ways are pamphlets, prayers, and rituals
expressions of hope even as they acknowledge larger,
more powerful forces?
12. The Japanese word for "the
strangeness of beauty" is myo. How does Etsuko come
to understand the role of myo in life? What is the
relationship of myo to Chie's comparison of a baseball
game and a tea ceremony?
13. The Strangeness of Beauty
may be seen as two interwoven tales: one a story of
character, family, and culture; the other a meditation
on how art—literary, visual, culinary, of professionals
and amateurs, of kite makers and kimono weavers and
housewives—informs and enriches our lives. At what
points do these two tales intertwine and how do they
culminate in the concept of myo?
|