Doubled Flowering: The Notebooks of Araki Yasusada

by Araki Yasusada

Poetry. Literary Criticism. Asian American Studies. The materials of the Japanese poet Araki Yasusada (1907-1972) were published in Grand Street, CONJUNCTIONS, Abiko Quarterly, FIRST INTENSITY, Stand and The American Poetry Review. Gradually, the rumor began circulating that Araki Yasusada did not exist and that the poems were a hoax perpetrated by the Japanese-American author Tosa Motokiyu or by his literary executor, the American poet Kent Johnson. The 'scandal' of these poems lies not in the problematics of authorship, identity, persona, race or history. Rather, these are wonderful works of writing that also invoke all of these other issues, never relying on them to prop up a text. This book makes the argument for anti-essentialism--Ron Silliman. This is essentially a criminal act--Arthur Vogelsang.

Genres: Poetry

168 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1997

Reviews

[bill greene]

tricky. i have to consult more culturally sensitive folk than i to know what to think of this american masquerading as an American of Japanese Ancestry impersonating a survivor of the Hiroshima A-bomb. much has been made of how 'everyone' thought these poems etc were amazing before the hoax was revealed, and therefore: does the fact of the hoax discredit the art? or rather does the fact of the poems' poignance indicate a sincere empathy that is larger than issues of legitimacy vs exploitation? my problem is that so far i think very little of it really works. most of it seems clunky & rings false. maybe if i didn't know it was a hoax, i would not notice the clunky & the false. after all, American Poetry Review, Grand Street & Conjunctions (to name just a few) did not.

[Linshan Jiang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I knew before I read that this book is not the so-called “real story” of Araki, I thought I could focus on appropriating the contents of the book. But when I was reading it, the arrangement of the book with all kinds of paratexts still makes me curious whether some parts are “truer” than other parts.
After reading it, I look back to what I have been through in this fabricated life of Araki. I could feel his despair and his recovery by exchanging literary ideas with his friends. At the same time, I feel the last poem is such a deliberate action which seems to be the classical structure of narration that every story needs to have an end.
When I was reading the appendix, I feel the academia and the media focus too much on authorship and neglect the “emotional history” that the author calls for. Indeed, the tricky question of legitimacy is always there. Even if it is acceptable to have the pseudonym and the fictional story in a way that looks like real life experience (I am not sure if memoir could be used here because memoir itself can be questioned as fabricated), is it legitimate to fabricate the Hiroshima trauma? It reminds me of a term called “second witness” in memory studies which is to question whether the recorder has the right to narrate in a way that makes the experience of the Holocaust survivor less true. However, Epstein thinks that writing itself is a way of fictionalization as well as of not forgetting, therefore, readers should appreciate the author’s writing of this book to draw our attention back to this important question of remembering Hiroshima.
Besides, I really want to read the original Japanese when I was reading the so-called translation if there is one. “Japaneseness” is a kind of stereotype that is also discussed in Venuti’s book. I am not sure to what extent Americans can be aware of reading this book as a deliberate effort to cater to the exoticism of Japanese in Americans’ eyes. For a Chinese reader like me, it is already two layers of foreign languages. Everything is exotic in my eyes. But another important related question of the deliberate formation is that to what extent this book can be read as readers’ expectation of what Hiroshima trauma could be. This question can apply to every related genre, such as autobiography, biography, memoir, oral history… When reader’s reading it, are we trapped by the similar narration or are we satisfied to express some sympathies and pities towards those people? This could even be a conspiracy of reader and publisher with the vicious circle of “oh! This is what they like!”.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you do not know the full Yasusada saga, read this book before you research (& before reading the back cover!)

I thought the appendices by Marjorie Perloff and Mikhail Epstein were especially enlightening.

I could write a bit about how much I like the poetry or how well I thought things were pulled off, but my opinions don't really matter -- just know that this is a good book to discuss.

[Dianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am really bad at dissecting poetry and understanding it, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading the twisted thoughts of Yasusada. Also this entire book is basically a scandal!