Julie Otsuka

Julie Otsuka is an award-winning Japanese American author. Otsuka is known for her historical fiction novels dealing with Japanese Americans. Her books are known for calling attention to the plight of Japanese Americans throughout World War II. She did not live through the Japanese Internment period, but her parents did which gives Otsuka a unique and personal perspective on the matter. When the Emperor was Divine was the first fiction novel where she discusses Japanese internment camps. With a background as a painter, Julie Otsuka's attention to detail and great descriptions give the reader vivid imagery of different situations throughout her novels.^[1]

Biography

Otsuka was born in 1962, in Palo Alto, California. Her father worked as an aerospace engineer, while her mother worked as a lab technician before she gave birth to Otsuka. Both of her parents were of Japanese descent, with her father being an issei and her mother being a nisei.^[2] At the age of nine, her family moved to Palos Verdes, California. She has two brothers, one of whom, Michael Otsuka, is currently teaching at the London School of Economics.^[3]

After graduating from high school, Otsuka attended Yale University, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1984. She later graduated from Columbia University with a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1999.^[4][5] Her debut novel When the Emperor was Divine dealt with Japanese American internment during World War II. It was published in 2002 by Alfred A. Knopf. Her second novel, The Buddha in the Attic (2011), is about Japanese picture brides.

Otsuka lives in New York City.^[6]

Awards and honors

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• 2004 Guggenheim Fellowship^[7]
• 2003 Asian American Literary Award, When the Emperor Was Divine^[8]
• 2003 Alex Award, When the Emperor Was Divine^[9]
• 2011 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, The Buddha in the Attic^[10]
• 2011 National Book Award, finalist, The Buddha in the Attic
• 2011 Los Angeles Times Book Prize, finalist, The Buddha in the Attic
• 2011 Langum Prize for American Historical Fiction, The Buddha in the Attic^[11]
• 2011 New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle, bestseller, The Buddha in the Attic
• 2012 American Academy of Arts and Letters "Arts and Letters Award in Literature"^[12]
• 2012 Prix Femina Étranger, The Buddha in the Attic^[13]
• 2014 Albatros Literaturpreis for Wovon wir träumten (The Buddha in the Attic) co-won with German translator Katja Scholtz.^[14]

Works

• When the Emperor was Divine. New York City: Alfred A. Knopf. 2002. ISBN 978-0-385-72181-3. 

A novel written by Julie Otsuka in 2002 describing a Japanese-American family that was put into an internment camp in the second World War. The novel follows a family made up of a mother, her two children and their father who was incarcerated and whose location is unknown until his return after the war. The novel depicts the struggle of Japanese-Americans at the time and the unimaginable life conditions that these people suffered during and after the internment period. The first three chapters are told in the perspective of the mother, the eleven-year-old daughter and the eight year-old son. The fourth chapter is told through a "we" perspective that is an attempt to articulate the struggle to Japanese-Americans as a whole and the fifth giving the perspective of the family's father.

• The Buddha in the Attic. New York City: Alfred A. Knopf. 2011. ISBN 978-0-307-74442-5.  (2013 England: ISBN 978-0-241-95648-9)

This novel is similar to When the Emperor was Divine in terms that both deal with the troubles of Japanese Americans Living in a new a new land. They both confront the harsh reality that the American Dream is not something so easily attained. In 8 sections, this novel chronicles a few Japanese picture brides who are to be sent to the United States in order to get married. Despite dreaming of the wonderful life they will live in America, they are instead presented with a life of labor and discrimination. These hardships only get worse as The United States gets involved in World War II^[1]

References