The Winter of Melancholy
by Pat E. Takayama
THE WINTER OF MELANCHOLY
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The Winter of Melancholy opens in Manzanar Interment Camp, a WWII relocation compound in the Mojave Desert, where Japanese American citizens were incarcerated along with their immigrant family members. Told from the viewpoint of the women whose lives were shaped by this period of isolation, separation and suffering of one extended family, we trace the resilience of the women, their strength, spirit and compassion that weaves through their stories from the immigrant to post war generations.
The other short works of fiction include stories: of a Japanese American girl who encounters racism on a PTA sponsored field trip, a midwife whose work requires her to drive up and down the El Camino Real to ply her trade, a Nisei woman who translates Japanese radio programs during WWII for the U.S. Army to intercept troop movements. These stories and others trace the challenges that women encountered in the face of racism, duty as family bread winners, transformation in response to social change, and finding ways to forge and retain familial connections.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Patricia E. Takayama's stories show the diversity among Issei, Nisei, Kibei Nisei, and Sansei women, working class and educated middle class, urban, and rural. By drawing attention to the often-overlooked experiences of Issei, Nisei, and Sansei women, she has contributed to a fuller, more variegated picture of the Japanese American past.