Rewriting the Rising Sun: Narrative authority and Japanese empire in Asian American literature

Japan’s colonial empire, which lasted from 1895 to 1945, has been an object of intensive study in many disciplines, but it has been relatively neglected in the field of Asian American literature. This dissertation addresses that omission through an analysis of the narrative form of Asian American fiction and drama in the context of Japanese imperialism. In the 1850s, Western imperial powers forced Japan into a position of economic and political subjugation. Japan subsequently reestablished its independence through the formation of its own military and colonial empire. This effort included Japan’s attempt to define itself in the global discourse as an imperial power—to control the representation of its colonial status. At the height of its empire, Japan dominated much of East Asia and the Pacific islands, including Korea, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, the Philippines and parts of China. Following its defeat in World War II, Japan sought to control its colonial legacy yet again, this time by whitewashing its imperialist past. Japanese empire has appeared as a recurrent theme in Asian American literature throughout the twentieth century: in Orientalist geisha narratives and early-century Korean American novels, in narratives of World War II and, more recently, in contemporary novels about Japan\u27s colonial and wartime atrocities throughout Asia. Rewriting the Rising Sun analyzes selected works of Asian American literature—by Onoto Watanna, Richard Kim, Chang-rae Lee and David Henry Hwang—in order to track the changing significance of Japanese imperialism in the twentieth century, from the celebration of Japanese empire early in the century, to its vilification during World War II, the rehabilitation of Japan’s reputation during the Cold War, and the recently renewed focus on Japan’s wartime atrocities. These works of literature deploy varied and distinct narrative strategies to construct new representations of Japanese imperialism. This dissertation stresses the importance of narrative form in Asian American literature, particularly the idea of narrative authority, control and power. I show how these works dramatize the power and limits of narrative authority, its seizure, its disavowal, and even the risks of exercising narrative authority, as a way to represent, contest and refigure colonial authority, and the legacy of Japanese imperialism