Sui Sin Far Knihy

Edith Maude Eaton (1865-1914) was an author best known under the pseudonym Sui Sin Far. She had to leave school at a young age to work in order to help support her family. Nonetheless, the children were educated at home and raised in an intellectually stimulating environment that saw both Edith and her younger sister Winnifred (1875- 1954), who wrote under the pseudonym Onoto Watanna, become successful writers. Eaton began writing as a young girl; her articles on the Chinese were accepted for publication in Montreal's English- language newspapers, the Montreal Star and the Daily Witness. She asserted her Chinese heritage and wrote articles that told what life was like for a Chinese woman in white America. Her fictional stories about Chinese Americans, first published in 1896, were a reasoned appeal for her society's acceptance of working-class Chinese at a time when the United States Congress maintained the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882- 1943). Her works include: A Chinese Ishmael (1899), An Autumn Fan (1910), The Bird of Love (1910) and A Love Story From the Rice Fields of China (1911).

A rediscovered classic of linked short stories set in San Francisco’s Chinatown, by the first published Asian American fiction writer—with an introduction by C Pam Zhang, bestselling author of How Much of These Hills Is Gold In this rediscovered classic of linked short stories set in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Sui Sin Far portrays Chinese immigrants as they fall in love, encounter racism, and wrestle with their new Americanized identities—decades before writers like Maxine Hong Kingston and Amy Tan. By turns tender and dramatic, Mrs. Spring Fragrance tells of the Chinese women and men as they confront prejudice and forced detention; choose to assimilate or stay true to their cultural heritage; meet both kind and predatory Americans; and find love, purpose, and understanding in their new home. These stories are windows into the lives of everyday people in an unforgiving city, who find solidarity and hope in the most unexpected places. The Modern Library Torchbearers series features women who wrote on their own terms, with boldness, creativity, and a spirit of resistance.

Inspired by the author’s experience living among Chinese Americans in the United States, The Collected Writings of Sui Sin Far highlights stories of prejudice, perseverance, and the soul of a proud and vibrant community. Characterized by her wisdom and cross-cultural knowledge, Mrs. Spring Fragrance is one of Sui Sin Far’s most beloved characters and can be found throughout the collection of stories. “In the Land of the Free” is a powerful story inside this collection on a Chinese immigrant who is separated from her young son due to insufficient paperwork. Exploring the struggles of this woman to reclaim her son, discrimination and hardships faced by Chinese Americans due to the Chinese Exclusion Act are exposed, illuminating the restrictive immigration policies which continue in modern America. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this Mint Editions version of The Collected Writings of Sui Sin Far is a classic of Chinese American literature reimagined for modern readers.