Art, Literature, and the Japanese American Internment: On John Okada’s «No-No Boy» (American Culture)

How can art, how can prose and poetry originate in spite of the restraints of manipulation, propaganda, and censorship? This study explores such issues by focusing on the cultural trajectory of Japanese American internment, both during and after World War II. Previously unknown documents as well as interviews with friends and family reveal new aspects of John Okada’s (1923–1971) life and writing, providing a comprehensive biographical outline of the author. The book refutes the assumption that Okada’s novel __No-No Boy__ was all but shunned when first published in 1957. A close reading as well as a comparative study involving Italo Calvino’s (1923–1985) __Six Memos for the Next Millennium__ (1985) position Okada’s only book as world literature. Cover 1 Table of Contents 9 Introduction: Japanese American Internment and the Holocaust 11 1. Artistic Expression and Internment 29 1.1. Isamu Noguchi 57 1.2. Miné Okubo 65 1.3. Camp Photography 71 1.4. Prose and Poetry 78 2. No-No Boys, Draft Resisters, and the Origins of Asian American Studies 89 3. John Okada, Writer and World War II Veteran 117 4. Reading No-No Boy as World Literature 139 5. Publication History, Reception, and Teaching of John Okada’s No-No Boy 177 Images 213 Bibliography 235 This study explores the cultural trajectory of Japanese American internment, both during and after World War II. It also provides the most exhaustive biographical outline of John Okada to date and refutes the assumption that his novel No-No Boy was all but shunned when first published. A close reading positions the book within world literature.