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Hiromi Goto's Chorus of Mushrooms ISSN 0214-4808 ● CODEN RAEIEX Editor Emeritus Pedro Jesús Marcos Pérez Editors José Mateo Martínez Francisco Yus Editorial Board Asunción Alba (UNED) ● Román Álvarez (University of Salamanca) ● Norman F. Blake (University of Sheffi eld) ● Juan de la Cruz (University of Málaga) ● Bernd Dietz (University of La Laguna) ● Angela Downing (University of Madrid, Compluten se) ● Francisco Fernández (University of Valen cia) ● Fernando Galván (University of Alcalá) ● Francisco García Tortosa (University of Seville) ● Pedro Guardia (University of Barcelona) ● Ernst-August Gutt (SIL) ● Pilar Hidalgo (Univer sity of Málaga) ● Ramón López Ortega (University of Extremadura) ● Doireann MacDermott (Universi ty of Barcelona) ● Catalina Montes (Uni- versity of Salamanca) ● Susana Onega (University of Zaragoza) ● Esteban Pujals (Uni ver sity of Madrid, Complutense) ● Julio C. Santoyo (University of León) ● John Sinclair (Uni versity of Birmingham) Advisory Board Enrique Alcaraz Varó (University of Alicante) ● Manuel Almagro Jiménez (University of Seville) ● José Antonio Álvarez Amorós (University of La Coruña) ● Antonio Bravo García (University of Oviedo) ● Miguel Ángel Campos Pardillos (University of Alicante) ● Silvia Caporale (University of Alicante) ● José Carnero González (Universi ty of Seville) ● Fernando Cerezal (University of Alcalá) ● Ángeles de la Concha (UNED) ● Isabel Díaz Sánchez (University of Alicante) ● Teresa Gibert Maceda (UNED) ● Teresa Gómez Reus (University of Alicante) ● José S. Gómez Soliño (Universi ty of La Laguna) ● José Manuel González (University of Alicante) ● Brian Hughes (University of Alicante) ● Antonio Lillo (University of Alicante) ● José Mateo Martínez (University of Alicante) ● Cynthia Miguélez Giambruno (University of Alicante) ● Bryn Moody (University of Alicante) ● Ana Isabel Ojea López (University of Oviedo) ● Félix Rodríguez González (Universi ty of Alicante) ● María Socorro Suárez (University of Oviedo) ● Justine Tally (University of La Laguna) ● Francisco Javier Torres Ribelles (University of Alicante) ● M. Carmen África Vidal (University of Salamanca) ● Francisco Yus (University of Alicante) The Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses is published yearly by the Department of English at the University of Alicante in volumes of approximately 250 pages. The journal aims to provide a forum for debate and an outlet for research involving all aspects of English Studies. NATURE AND FORMAT OF THE ARTICLES: The Revista would welcome ar ticles of the following kinds: (1) Articles on linguistics and ELT, literature, literary theory and criticism, history and other aspects of the culture of the English-speaking nations. Articles should not exceed nine thousand words in length. (2) Bibliogra phies of studies on very specifi c topics, providing a brief introduction and a list of basic publications. A concise index of contents may optionally be included. (3) Reviews and review articles on recently published books in the fi eld of English Stu dies. (4) Poetry translations (English-Spanish and Spanish-Eng lish). All articles submitted should follow the guidelines which can be obtained from the following Internet address: http://www.ua.es/dfi ng/publicaciones/raei/general/instrucciones.htm Manuscripts should include an abstract in English of about one hundred words in length. In normal circumstances, the editors will only consider for publication those contributions written in English and recorded on disk. Two print-outs of the contribution should also be included. Articles will only be returned at the authors’ express wish, if so requested at the time of submission. All correspondence should be addressed to: Revista Alicantina de Es tudios Ingleses, Departamen to de Filología Inglesa, Universidad de Alican te, P. O. Box 99, E-03080 ALICANTE (Spain) ● ADVERTISING: The journal will be pleased to carry ad vertise ments in either full-page (17 x 24 cms. approx.) or half-page (17 x 12 cms. ap prox.) format. Prices and informa tion are available on request at the above address ● EX CHANGES: The Revis ta Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses will be happy to make exchange arrangements with similar journals in the same fi eld. All such proposals should be made in writing to the above ad dress ● SUB SCRIP TIONS: The price of subscriptions for FOUR issues of the Revista Alican tina de Estudios Ingleses is as follows: (1) in Spain, 60€ for libraries and institutions, and 40€ for private subscribers; (2) in countries other than Spain, US $100 for libraries and institu tions, and US $67 for private sub scribers. Individual issues for libraries and institutions cost 15€ (Spain) or US $20 (abroad). Correspondence on subscriptions should be adressed to: Marcial Pons Librero San Sotero 6 28037 MADRID (Spain) [email protected] Portada: Enrique Pérez Gabinete de Diseño de la Universidad de Alicante ISSN: 0214-4808 Depósito Legal: A-22-1989 Edición de: COMPOBELL, S.L. Murcia Estos créditos pertenecen a la edición impresa de la obra Edición electrónica: Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms: Cultural Difference, Visibility and the Canadian Tradition Eva Darias Beautell Contents Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms: Cultural Difference, Visibility and the Canadian Tradition . 6 Abstract . 6 Works cited . 44 Notes . .48 Revista Estudios Ingleses 16 (2003) Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms: Cultural Difference, Visibility and the Canadian Tradition (note 1) EVA DARIAS BEAUTELL University of La Laguna [email protected] Abstract This essay focuses on the role of visual codes to construct cultural identities within a national framework in contemporary Canadian lit- erature and culture, and analyses the novel Chorus of Mushrooms by Hiromi Goto (1994) as an interesting study of such strategies of iden- titary formation in Canada. Clearly springing from the Asian Canadian rapidly growing fi eld of writing, the novel sets itself to break institu- tional expectations in a number of ways. First, it exposes the asym- metries in the conditions of production of cultural identities in Canada and denounces the power of the codes of visibility in the production of cultural difference. Second, it recognizes, appropriates and reverses the functioning of cultural stereotypes, unveiling in the process their ar- CONTENTS 6 Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms: Cultural Difference, Visibility and the Canadian Tradition Eva Darias Beautell bitrary nature. Third, it inscribes itself right into the Canadian tradition, putting into question the awkward division between mainstream and minority literature in Canada. This is done by means of a double move consisting of writing explicitly within the fi eld of Asian Canadian tradi- tion, specially because of its intertextual engagement with the multi- award-winning novel Obasan, by Joy Kogawa (1983), while entering and appropriating, at the same time, the texts of Canadian regional- ism, specifi cally prairie fi ction, as well as the larger national contexts of literature. ecent studies in the historical, social and literary fi elds have focused on the role of visual codes to construct Rcultural identities within a national framework in con- temporary Western countries. Canada, because of the spe- cifi c circumstances of its formation and the ethnic variety of its population, offers an excellent instance of such strategies of identitary construction, and the issue has therefore attracted the attention of theoreticians, critics and writers working in all areas of Canadian culture. Recent fi ctional production is no exception, and the number of novels published in the last ten years that deal directly or indirectly with visual technolo- gies in connection to cultural identities is outstanding. Suc- cessful novels such as Kerri Sakamoto’s The Electrical Field (1998), Anita Rau Badami’s Tamarind Mem (1996), Tomson Highway’s Kiss of the Fur Queen (1998), or André Alexis’ Childhood (1998) are all involved (in different degrees, from CONTENTS 7 Revista Estudios Ingleses 16 (2003) a variety of angles, and with unequal results) in the analysis of the interaction between the eye and the I, between what is seen and what is defi ned as subject, between the visible and the cultural. By exploring new forms of subject construction in Canada, these texts have also unveiled the presence of racism behind the apparently neutral ground of cultural differ- ence. As Sneja Gunew has argued, “the visibility of ‘difference’ itself is registered via markers of normative racialization. The visible body—what the viewer sees in terms of corporeality— supposedly ‘explains’ these differences” (1998: 254). This, in turn, draws our attention to the limits and possible traps of postcolonial and postmodern theories, initially celebrated as liberating discourses, and often used in the critical production on the so-called “New Literatures in English”. Chorus of Mushrooms by Hiromi Goto (1994) provides one of those interesting fi ctional analyses of the role of visual structures in the offi cial construction of cultural difference in Canada, with a special emphasis on the production of the Asian Canadian subject. Moreover, as the two scenes I have chosen to introduce the topic show, one of the most salient issues the novel explores is precisely the problematic lack of coincidence between the intended and the actual realities of the cultural mosaic. In the fi rst of them, one of the book’s CONTENTS 8 Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms: Cultural Difference, Visibility and the Canadian Tradition Eva Darias Beautell narrators, the Japanese Canadian grand-daughter, Murasaki, remembers
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