Author: Wayson Choy Title: All That Matters
What made you interested in this author?
I was more interested in the novel itself other than the person who wrote it. I read the back and the inside flaps and it made me want to read this book; it was something I've never read before. That being said I am more interested in reading his other works now that I know more about him as an author.
Brief background on the author:
Wayson Choy was born and grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia on April 20th, 1939. He was the only son of immigrant parents from China. Later in his life he studied creative writing at the University of British Columbia.
He moved to Toronto in 1962. When he moves there he begins to teach. He taught English at Toronto's Humber College in 1967. There he was also a member of the Humber School of Writers. He was won numerous awards for his work. In 1996, Choy shared the Trillium Book Award with Margaret Atwood for his novel The Jade Peony. He won this same award in 2004 for his novel All That Matters. He found out from a mysterious phone call when he was 56 that he was adopted as a child. Instead of thinking his life was a lie up until that point, he accepted his parents' choice. As a result of this revelation, he wrote his memoir entitled Paper Shadows: A Chinatown Childhood. In 2004, he almost died from a severe asthma attack while writing All That Matters. It worsened and he even went into a coma. When he began writing the novel again, after recovery, he changed a lot of things. It is extremely safe to say that All That Matters would have been a completely different book if he had not suffered that sudden asthma attack. Before he finished the novel it went by the working title of "The Ten Thousand Things". He continued to write it with this new perspective of life: he realized that little things can cause huge impacts. In 2000, a documentary film on Choy's life was created. It was called Wayson Choy: Unfolding the Butterfly. He still lives in a Toronto apartment with his wife and daughter and share it with a couple of his close friends today.
Other published works and genres:
(1995) The Jade Peony - novel
(1999) Paper Shadows: A Chinatown Childhood - memoir
(2009) Not Yet - A Memoir of Living and Almost Dying - memoir
Information on particular places, time periods, events of influence or interest to your author:
Wayson Choy greatly relies on his family culture and origin in his writing. Before writing, he researched a lot about the life of both women and men living in China in the early 1900's. He focused on not only their lives in China, but also in Vancouver's Chinatown. His immense and accurate information and detail make the reader feel completely knowledgeable of the time period and places he writes about. He could even be described as an Historian in that category (Chinese cultures in both Western Canada and China in the early 1900s).
Themes favored by the author:
Choy believes characters come first, then plot. Perspective is extremely important. Who is telling the story can change the plot heavily. Choy knows which character is the most ideal one to use to tell the story in the most effective way possible. He believes and relies heavily on signs, in his work and also in his life. He also sees there is nothing more important than writing the truth. He tries to implicate secrets whenever he can, too.
Similar authors:
Choy can be compared to another Canadian History cultural author Thomas King, an Aboriginal history novelist. Both authors write about different cultures within another culture (Canada). Both of them were also awarded the Governor General's Award.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Critical Articles:
Callahan, David. "All That Matters: A Novel." Canadian Ethnic Studies Journal 37.2 (2005: Web. 14 Oct. 2010. http://find.galegroup.com/gps/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=IPS&docId=A140708023&source=gale&userGroupName=ko_k12hs_d21&version=1.0
Quan, Shirley N. "All That Matters." Library Journal 131.20 (2006): 106-107. Education Research Complete. EBSCO. Web. 14 Oct. 2010.
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=23454949&site=ehost-live
Millar, Mary. "Choy completes the square." Globe & Mail (2004): Web. 16 Oct 2010. http://find.galegroup.com/gps/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T004&prodId=IPS&docId=A123044243&source=gale&userGroupName=ko_k12hs_d21&version=1.0
No comments:
Post a Comment