15. Sui Sin Far — Mrs. Spring Fragrance with Victoria Namkung
Author and journalist Victoria Namkung is our guest on this week’s show.
In this week’s episode, Amy and Kim have a conversation about Sui Sin Far and her wonderful short story collection, Mrs. Spring Fragrance (1912), with journalist and author Victoria Namkung, who has her Master’s Degree in Asian American Studies from UCLA. Sui Sin Far, the pen name of Edith Maude Eaton, was a journalist and writer of Chinese and British descent who moved to the U.S. and began writing articles about what it was like to live as a Chinese woman in a white America. Learn more about Eaton and find out why, if you haven’t already, you should find a spot on your bookshelf for the still-very-relevant Mrs. Spring Fragrance.
Discussed in this episode:
These Violent Delights by Victoria Namkung
The Things We Tell Ourselves by Victoria Namkung
Sui Sin Far’s Mrs. Spring Fragrance
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
The Original Fairytales of The Brothers Grimm
A Japanese Nightingale by Onoto Watanna (Winifred Eaton)
Becoming Sui Sin Far: Early Fiction and Travel Writing by Edith Maude Eton
Nisei’s Daughter by Monica Sone
Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People by Helen Zia