Tuesday, April 4, 2023

April 4, 2023: NeMLA Reflections: Toshiaki Komura on the Poetry of Internment

[A couple weekends back I was in Niagara Falls for the 54th annual Northeast Modern Language Association Convention. Longtime readers will know well how much I love NeMLA, the organization and the convention alike, and this year was no exception. So as usual, here are a handful of reflections on a great NeMLA convention!]

As I’ve written many times in this space, my favorite thing about NeMLA is the people, not only the people I’ve gotten to work with on the Board (on which see the hyperlinked post above), but also all those with whom I’ve connected in my 15+ years of attending the conference. In many cases those folks have become not just recurring presences in my life but true friends, and I would certainly say that of Toshiaki Komura. I had a small part in helping Toshiaki publish his award-winning book Lost Loss in American Elegiac Poetry, and I always look forward to the opportunity to learn more from his scholarship and voice. His NeMLA presentation was no exception, as he traced three generations of Japanese American poetic responses to WWII internment/incarceration, linking them in the process to Dickinson & Whitman and the broader legacies of American lyric & pastoral poetry. I never fail to come away from NeMLA with a long list of new authors and works to read, and I can’t imagine a more inspiring effect!

Next reflection tomorrow,

Ben

PS. If you were at NeMLA, I’d love to hear your reflections too!

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