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Ann Arbor, MI 48106 AUTHOR AND AUDIENCE ACROSS CULTURAL MARGINS: NARRATIVE TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN ETHNIC WRITERS AND OUTSIDER READERS DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By- Susan Starr Bleyler Richardson, A.B., M.A. ***** The Ohio State University 1994 Dissertation Committee: Approved by James Phelan Julian Markels . _ -- Adviser Debra A. Moddelmog Department of English Copyright by Susan B . Richardson 1994 For My Mother Marion Scott Richardson Bleyler To the Memory of My Father Peter Austin Bleyler For DPC 11 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I would like to acknowledge Hisaye Yamamoto because the fortunate discovery of her wonderful stories spurred my interest in ethnic fiction. I thank Trudier Harris for her breathtaking introduction to the rich world of African American women's writing, and Toni Cade Bambara for lending me the support of her walking cane. I am very grateful to Toyo Suyemoto Kawakami for her friendship and generous sharing of Japanese American experience. While working on this project, I have been inspired by Maxine Hong Kingston's quiet vision of peace and human possibility, and her creations--Wittman Ah Sing and Trinmaster Monkey--have given me countless moments of laughter and memories of the English Department at Berkeley during the sixties. To my dissertation committee goes my great appreciation: to Prof. James Phelan for his acute professional guidance and for the humane spirit and unfailing good humor that accompany his exciting approach to narrative stuides; to Prof. Julian Markels for his early encouragement and bridging of old- and new-style literary criticism and for his infectious enthusiasm for American letters; to Prof. Debra A. Moddelmog for her steady, timely, and thorough help with both ideas and their expression in this dissertation and for her guidance in the issues of multiculturalism. The Department of English at Ohio State University has provided me an exemplary program of study, and, in addition to the persons on my committee, I would like to make special mention of my fellow students in Prof. Phelan's Informal 111 Seminar; Cartha Sexton, the Graduate Secretary; and Prof. Marlene Longenecker, the Graduate Representative. I would also like to acknowledge the crucial support from Otterbein College. The college's NEH seminar on narrative provided the stimulus for this project, and its sabbatical leave program has been indispensable to its completion. I am grateful to Denison University for making available its academic facilities and for including me in the visits of Kingston and Bambara. I have received help and encouragment from many colleagues and friends in the academic departments, libraries, offices, and computer services (including the expert and tireless help in formatting from Aaron Thompson) at both institutions, and I thank them all. The encouragement from my dear neighbors, friends, and family has been heartening and much appreciated. Finally, my heart's thanks go to Dominick Peter Console whose unstinting and creative support--professional, practical, and personal--goes far beyond listing. IV VITA June 11, 1936 .....................Born - Rochester, New York 1958... ...........................A.B. English Honors, University of Rochester, Rochester New York 1960 ............................. M.A. English, University of California, Berkeley 1961 ...........................Junior College Teaching Certificate, University of California, Berkeley 1961-1964 ....................... Teacher, American College for Girls, Istanbul, Turkey 1977-1978 ........................Assistant Director, English Language Program, Otterbein College, Westerville, Ohio 1978-199 0 ........................ Director, English Language Program, Otterbein College 1986-1992........................ Assistant Professor, Otterbein College 1992-Present .................... Associate Professor, Otterbein College FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: English Studies in American Literature with Julian Markels, the Novel with James Phelan, and Ethnic American Literature with Debra A. Moddelmog TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................ iii VITA ........................................................V TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................... vi INTRODUCTION ............................................... 1 CHAPTER PAGE I. INVISIBLE MAN AND RALPH ELLISON, ANTAGONISTIC COLLABORATOR...................... 20 Context and Criticism..................... 22 Ralph Ellison and Audience ......... 33 "Antagonistic Cooperation" ......... 38 The Text .................................. 45 Invisible Man, Character ........... 45 Narrative Strategies .................... 54 Humor, Laughter, Irony ............... 54 "Yes, Yes, Yes!" .................... 66 The Narrator and His Characterized Audience ............................ 73 The Implied Author and His Distrusted Audience ............................ 86 The Boomerang ....................... 93 II, TOSHIO MORI AND HISAYE YAMAMOTO, NISEI FABRICATORS ..............................95 Context and History ...................... 98 The Texts ................................108 TOSHIO MORI ..............................112 Individual Stories .................119 Audience ........................... 139 VI CHAPTER PAGE HISAYE YAMAMOTO ......................... 143 "Morning Rain" ..................... 146 "Wilshire Bus" ..................... 150 "The High-Heeled Shoes, A Memoir" .152 "Seventeen Syllables" ............. 154 "The Legend of Miss Sasagawara" ...161 Audience ........................... 167 III. THE SALT EATERS AND TONI CADE BAMBARA, AFRICAN-AMERICAN GRIOT ....................... 173 Context and Community ................... 174 The Text ................................. 184 Narrative Strategies .................... 190 Novel Form ......................... 190 Narrator as Medium .................191 Cinematic Techniques ...............192 Time and Duration .................. 195 Transitions ........................ 198 More Music Matters .................202 Fiction Techniques .................204 Language and Grammar ...............207 CODA: SIGNIFYING ON RALPH ELLISON .......... 215 Women in Bambara and Ellison ......226 Audience and Rootedness ........... 236 IV. DONALD DDK AND FRANK CHIN, DIDACTICIAN...... 244 Context and Manifesto ................... 247 The Text .................................252 Narrative Strategies .................... 257 Strategic Outcome ..................262 Heteroglossia (Nonetheless) ....... 270 V. TRIPMASTER MONKEY: HIS FAKE BOOK AND MAXINE HONG KINGSTON, AMERICAN TALK-STORY DAEDALATOR .................................... 288 Context and Representation ............. 290 The Text .................................297 Narrative Strategies .................... 313 Narrative as Fake Book ........ ....313 The Narrator's Fake Book .......... 317 Maxine Hong Kingston's Fake Book ..324 CODA: TAI CHI CHUAN EXERCISING ............. 329 EPILOGUE ................................................. 333 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................ 341 vii INTRODUCTION What is the nature of the narrative transactions between an ethnic writer and an outsider reader? How is a reader's understanding enhanced or blocked, how is meaning communicated or distorted when an author must also serve as a translator of culture, or a mediator between cultures? The complex process of communication between author and audience through a narrative text depends upon the rhetorical strategies employed by the author to engage the reader and the interpretive strategies employed