The Heart of Hyacinth

by Onoto Watanna, Samina Najmi (Introduction)

The Heart of Hyacinth, originally published in 1903, tells the coming-of-age story of Hyacinth Lorrimer, a child of white parents who was raised from infancy in Japan by a Japanese foster mother and assumed to be Eurasian. A crisis occurs when, 18 years after her birth, her American father returns to Japan to reclaim her just as Hyacinth has become engaged to a Japanese aristocrat, and she forcefully asserts her Japanese ties only to find that her prospective father-in-law will not tolerate a white wife for his son. Onoto Watanna creates in her protagonist a young white woman who not only claims a Japanese identity but shifts between her Japaneseness and her whiteness as expediency dictates. In this novel Watanna is on the cutting edge of what we now call race theory, using that theory―of racial constructions and fluidity―in the service of an avant-garde feminism.

Genres: American, Classics

Paperback

First published January 1, 1903

About the author

Onoto Watanna is a pseudonym for Winnifred Eaton (her maiden name) or Winnifred Eaton Reeve (her married name).

From Onoto Watanna: The Story of Winnifred Eaton
"In 1901, the young Winnifred Eaton arrived in New York City with literary ambitions, journalistic experience, and the manuscript for A Japanese Nightingale, the novel that would sell many thousands of copies and make her famous. Hers is a real Horatio Alger story, with fascinating added dimensions of race and gender."

Reviews

[Lu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting take on transcultural and transnational identity.

However, all that manexplaining and manhandling about love?????? Please just not

[Sofía · Rating 3 out of 5]

As Lucía said, interesting take on transculturality.... not so much on love

[Sonja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Remember to keep an open mind, this book is about Japan at the dawn of the Twentieth Century, and set from their point of view. It's worthwhile to read the introduction, so you understand just where the author was coming from when she wrote this story.

This is a beautifully crafted love-story, mixed in cultural history and heavy with racial awareness.

[Pascale · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as interesting as "Marion" by the same writer. Both are sentimental stories chiefly of interest to us today because of the light they throw on issues of race and gender, but "Hyacinth" really reads like a pot-boiler. Hyacinth's mother was a white woman who fled her cheating husband and died soon after giving birth. Hyacinth then came to be brought up by a Japanese widow whose husband was English. The Japanese widow, Aoi, and her biracial son Komazawa completely embrace Hyacinth who loves them back. Eventually Komazawa sails to England to get a British education and reclaim his father's estate. During his absence, Hyacinth gets engaged to the dissipated son of a wealthy Japanese businessman (who later rejects her when he finds out she has no Japanese blood at all). Also during that time, Hyacinth's biological father hears of her existence for the first time and sails to Japan to meet her. I disagree with the claim made by Samina Najmi in her introduction that Hyacinth is "a young woman who shifts between her Japaneseness and her whiteness as expediency dictates". In fact neither Aoi nor Hyacinth is very good at standing up for herself. In the end, it is Komazawa who saves the day by falling in love with his adopted sister and marrying her to prevent her white father from taking away from Japan. I have nothing against good melodrama but this particular story just didn't work for me.

[Edmund Bloxam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very smart awareness of racial identity. I have heard of people who grow up somewhere and don't realise that they actually have a different skin color.

That awareness frames the narrative as Hyacinth grows up and becomes more aware of her world and her place within it.

Rounded characters and no stereotypes throughout. No 'bad guys' as such. A narrative with tension, but one carefully realistic. And the story has surprises and twists as well.

Quite short and sweet. If anything, I wanted more. But there is certainly enough.

Here is my free audiobook version:
https://soundcloud.com/g1hkk9pkpteg/s....
Enjoy.

[Umrtia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very quick read but I did find it enjoyable. The symbolism and poetic writing were pleasant. As well as the cultural and racial topics that the book touches on.

[Sabrina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blood = boiled but gotta support my fellow female wasian writers get that bag ig

[Lauren]

About an English girl who's mother dies right after birth. She is raised in a Japanese household as Japanese. Her father finds her years later.

[Glenette · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really wasn't impressed with this read. I almost put it down not wanting to finish it. It had a good review but I just couldn't see what the attraction was. Maybe I missed something?