Sins of Omission: Hisaye Yamamoto’s Vision of History

I challenge both critical views as I reconsider Yamamoto's politics through an analysis of the vision of history evident in her work and in some key moments of her biography, with a focus on the postwar period that was the peak of her literary production as well as her political activ ity. Beginning with analysis of the debate over Herman Melville's Benito Cereno that erupts in her communication with Winters, followed by a reconsideration of Yamamoto's decision to leave her position as a journal ist for The Los Angeles Tribune (which Lee portrays as her retreat from politics), I trace the emergence of Yamamoto's decidedly counter-hege monic and anti-racist perspective toward history. Turning to "Wilshire Bus," "Yoneko's Earthquake," "Seventeen Syllables," and "The Legend of Miss Sasagawara," four of Yamamoto's best known stories from this era, I examine how this critical vision is expressed through the predicament of