https://www.scribd.com/document/266532194/Jenichiro-Oyabe-a-Japanese-Robinson-Crusoe-Intersections-Asian-and-Pacific-American-Transcultural-Studies-2009
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A Japanese Robinson Crusoe
(Intersections: Asian and Pacific American Transcultural Studies)
by
Jenichiro Oyabe,
Greg Robinson (Editor),
Yujin Yaguchi (Editor)
3.67 · Rating details · 6 ratings · 1 review
First published in 1898 and long out of print, A Japanese Robinson Crusoe by Jenichiro Oyabe (1867-1941) is a pioneering work of Asian American literature. It recounts Oyabe's early life in Japan, his journey west, and his education at two historically Black colleges, detailing in the process his gradual transformation from Meiji gentleman to self-proclaimed Japanese Yankee. Like a Victorian novelist, Oyabe spins a tale that mixes faith and exoticism, social analysis and humor. His story fuses classic American narratives of self-creation and the self-made man (and, in some cases, the tall tale) with themes of immigrant belonging and whiteness. Although he compares himself with the castaway Robinson Crusoe, Oyabe might best be described as a combination of Crusoe and his faithful servant Friday, the Christianized man of color who hungers to be enlightened by Western ways.
A Japanese Robinson Crusoe is flavored with insights on important questions for contemporary Americans: How does one become American? How is Asian American identity formed in response to the conditions of other racial groups? When and how did the Asian American model minority myth emerge? A new introduction provides a provocative analysis of Oyabe's story and discusses his years abroad in the context of his later career, placing the text within both American and modern Japanese history. (less)
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Paperback, 192 pages
Published January 7th 2009 by University of Hawaii Press (first published 1898)
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Sep 14, 2009Leroy Seat rated it really liked it
I received this book to review for "Missiology" An International Review," and would likely not have read it otherwise. But it is an interesting book about an outstanding young Japanese man, an autobiography written before the author was thirty years old.
The book was first published in 1898, so much of its value lies in getting a feel for life and thought of the previous twelve years.
The book is written in very good English prose, making me wonder how much help the author received in the editing of his manuscript. But maybe he was just a very gifted person--and in many ways he was, at least to hear him tell it.
It was surprising to read of such an outstanding Japanese Christian whom I never heard of in Japan. This book, though, was not published in Japanese translation until 1991. (less)
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