Sui Sin Far (1865–1914)
Author of Mrs. Spring Fragrance and Other Writings
About the Author
Disambiguation Notice:
Sui Sin Far is the pseudonym for Edith Maude Eaton.
Image credit: wikipedia
Works by Sui Sin Far
“In the Land of the Free” 1 copy
Eaton, Edith Maude Archive 1 copy
Associated Works
The Glorious American Essay: One Hundred Essays from Colonial Times to the Present (2020) — Contributor — 118 copies
The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Concise Edition (2003) — Contributor — 73 copies, 1 review
"The Man Who Thought Himself a Woman" and Other Queer Nineteenth-Century Short Stories (Q19: The Queer American Nineteenth Century) (2017) — Contributor — 20 copies
La nueva mujer: Relatos de escritoras estadounidenses del siglo XIX — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Eaton, Edith Maude
- Other names
- Wing, Mahlon T
- Birthdate
- 1865-03-15
- Date of death
- 1914-04-07
- Gender
- female
- Education
- at home
- Occupations
- journalist
legal secretary
short story writer
essayist - Relationships
- Watanna, Onoto (sister)
- Short biography
- Sui Sin Far is the pseudonym for Edith Maude Eaton. The daughter of an English father and a Chinese mother, Eaton emigrated with her parents to the United States when she was a child. Her family eventually settled in Montreal Canada. Eaton spent much of her adult life in the United States traveling between Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. During this time, she observed the prejudice against Chinese Americans in North American and wrote a number of stories and essays for North American periodicals on this subject. Although she wished to write full time, she was forced to support herself as a stenographer. Her sister Winnifred Babcock also became a writer adopting the persona of a Japanese Eurasian and writing under the pseudonym Onoto Watanna.
- Nationality
- England
UK - Birthplace
- Macclesfield, Cheshire, England, UK
- Places of residence
- San Francisco, California, USA
Seattle, Washington, USA
Boston, Massachusetts, USA - Place of death
- Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Burial location
- Mount Royal Cemetery, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Disambiguation notice
- Sui Sin Far is the pseudonym for Edith Maude Eaton.
Members
Reviews
Mrs. Spring Fragrance: A Collection of Chinese-American Short Stories (Dover Books on Literature & Drama) by Sui Sin Far
Much like Samuel Richardson's "Pamela" I feel this novel has accrued a status beyond its actual merits as a text. This isn't to say that Sui Sin Far's writing is terrible....nor is very good either, it's like Theodore Dreiser (so much as I remember his style from one reading of Sister Carrie years ago) with an attempt at an ethnic flourish. The prose is workman-like while straining to be so much more and, unfortunately, finding its reach extends beyond its grasp.
However, if given the proper show more historical and cultural context I think a reader might find (as I learned to) that this a novel almost overburdened to the hilt (almost to the spilling point) with various (and at times conflicting) contexts. Sui Sin Far was a half-Chinese and half-White woman in an age when the Chinese in America were looked at, in many circles, as little more than human looking but ostensibly 'alien' labor. And that was one of the more accommodating prejudices; this isn't even to mention the whole 'yellow peril' idiocy that, again, Sui Sin Far was operating under and against.
What Sui Sin Far attempts, then, with all of this historical, cultural, and social pressure is to, using this book, attempt to be a bridge between her white ancestry and her Chinese ancestry (this isn't authorial fallacy by the way she herself said something to this effect). And, if nothing else, this is a noble goal that Far takes on with much passion and determination.
But unfortunately novels are not (or should not) be rated on their intentions, they have to stand on their own (as best as possible considering that there's always some kind of context or bias we as readers have to work through, never a true objective vacuum) and, sadly, this book falters at the level of the text.
But, if nothing else (and putting it above the dreadful Pamela) I at least felt the significance and even the urgency of this text whereas the latter felt like a true 'right place right time' placement for Richardson in the much bemoaned but still acknowledged canon. show less
However, if given the proper show more historical and cultural context I think a reader might find (as I learned to) that this a novel almost overburdened to the hilt (almost to the spilling point) with various (and at times conflicting) contexts. Sui Sin Far was a half-Chinese and half-White woman in an age when the Chinese in America were looked at, in many circles, as little more than human looking but ostensibly 'alien' labor. And that was one of the more accommodating prejudices; this isn't even to mention the whole 'yellow peril' idiocy that, again, Sui Sin Far was operating under and against.
What Sui Sin Far attempts, then, with all of this historical, cultural, and social pressure is to, using this book, attempt to be a bridge between her white ancestry and her Chinese ancestry (this isn't authorial fallacy by the way she herself said something to this effect). And, if nothing else, this is a noble goal that Far takes on with much passion and determination.
But unfortunately novels are not (or should not) be rated on their intentions, they have to stand on their own (as best as possible considering that there's always some kind of context or bias we as readers have to work through, never a true objective vacuum) and, sadly, this book falters at the level of the text.
But, if nothing else (and putting it above the dreadful Pamela) I at least felt the significance and even the urgency of this text whereas the latter felt like a true 'right place right time' placement for Richardson in the much bemoaned but still acknowledged canon. show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 7
- Also by
- 13
- Members
- 158
- Popularity
- #133,025
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 1
- ISBNs
- 25
- Languages
- 1