Voices of Angel Island: Inscriptions and Immigrant Poetry, 1910-1945

Voices of Angel Island is a historical and literary anthology of the writings of immigrants detained at Angel Island, designed to provide a conduit for readers today to connect with early-20th-century perspectives on the process of "becoming American."

The Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco Bay has been called the "Ellis Island of the West," but its purpose was quite different. It was primarily a detention center, established in large part to discourage immigration by Asians. The station barracks contain an extraordinary archive: hundreds of poems and prose records in half a dozen languages are on the walls, inscribed by immigrant detainees between 1910 and 1940, and by POWs and "enemy aliens" during World War II. Charles Egan draws on over a decade's work deciphering the wall inscriptions by Japanese, Chinese, Korean, European, and other detainees to assemble a selection of their writings in this book, alongside literary materials from Bay Area ethnic newspapers. While each inscription tells the story of an individual, taken together they illuminate the historical, economic, and cultural forces that shaped the lives of ordinary people in the early 20th century.

"1136761079"
Voices of Angel Island: Inscriptions and Immigrant Poetry, 1910-1945

Voices of Angel Island is a historical and literary anthology of the writings of immigrants detained at Angel Island, designed to provide a conduit for readers today to connect with early-20th-century perspectives on the process of "becoming American."

The Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco Bay has been called the "Ellis Island of the West," but its purpose was quite different. It was primarily a detention center, established in large part to discourage immigration by Asians. The station barracks contain an extraordinary archive: hundreds of poems and prose records in half a dozen languages are on the walls, inscribed by immigrant detainees between 1910 and 1940, and by POWs and "enemy aliens" during World War II. Charles Egan draws on over a decade's work deciphering the wall inscriptions by Japanese, Chinese, Korean, European, and other detainees to assemble a selection of their writings in this book, alongside literary materials from Bay Area ethnic newspapers. While each inscription tells the story of an individual, taken together they illuminate the historical, economic, and cultural forces that shaped the lives of ordinary people in the early 20th century.

40.95 In Stock
Voices of Angel Island: Inscriptions and Immigrant Poetry, 1910-1945

Voices of Angel Island: Inscriptions and Immigrant Poetry, 1910-1945

by Charles Egan
Voices of Angel Island: Inscriptions and Immigrant Poetry, 1910-1945

Voices of Angel Island: Inscriptions and Immigrant Poetry, 1910-1945

by Charles Egan

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$40.95 
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Overview

Voices of Angel Island is a historical and literary anthology of the writings of immigrants detained at Angel Island, designed to provide a conduit for readers today to connect with early-20th-century perspectives on the process of "becoming American."

The Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco Bay has been called the "Ellis Island of the West," but its purpose was quite different. It was primarily a detention center, established in large part to discourage immigration by Asians. The station barracks contain an extraordinary archive: hundreds of poems and prose records in half a dozen languages are on the walls, inscribed by immigrant detainees between 1910 and 1940, and by POWs and "enemy aliens" during World War II. Charles Egan draws on over a decade's work deciphering the wall inscriptions by Japanese, Chinese, Korean, European, and other detainees to assemble a selection of their writings in this book, alongside literary materials from Bay Area ethnic newspapers. While each inscription tells the story of an individual, taken together they illuminate the historical, economic, and cultural forces that shaped the lives of ordinary people in the early 20th century.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781501371295
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date: 06/30/2022
Pages: 360
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.74(d)

About the Author

Charles Egan is Professor of Chinese at San Francisco State University, USA. He is the author of Clouds Thick, Whereabouts Unknown: Poems by Zen Monks of China, which was awarded the 2011 Lucien Stryk Prize in Asian Translation by the American Literary Translators Association.

Table of Contents

List of Figures
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Japanese Incriptions, 1910-1940
Wall Inscriptions
Japanese Prose and Poetry from Nichibei Shimbun
2. Korean Inscriptions, 1910-1940
Wall Inscriptions
Korean Poetry from Sinhan Minbo
3. Chinese Inscriptions, 1910-1940
Wall Inscriptions
An Angel Island Memoir
4. Other Inscriptions, 1910-1940
Russian Wall Inscriptions
Poems from Russkii Golos
South Asian Wall Inscriptions
Poems from Ghadar de Gunj
Wall Inscriptions in European Languages
5. Second World War Wall Inscriptions, 1942-1945
By Japanese Hawaiians
Inscriptions from Yasutaro Soga
By Prisoners-of-War
By Post-war Deportees
Appendices
A. Poem Numbers in Island, 1st and 2nd Editions
B. Wall Locations of Island Poems (Island 2nd Edition Order)
C. Wall Locations of Island 2nd Edition Poems (Wall Order)
D. Tet Yee Manuscript Poems and Locations
E. Smiley Jann Manuscript Poems and Locations
F. Wall Locations of Pictures
Notes (including locations of wall inscriptions)
Bibliography

Index

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