I have been hard at work on my (adult) novel. It’s set in the early 1960s
and the main character is a multiracial boy so I’ve been thinking a lot about
what is was like to grow up ‘mixed’ in less hybrid times.
To me, the trailblazer has always been the writer Sui Sin Far (born Edith
Maude Eaton; 15 March 1865 – 7 April 1914).
Far was the daughter of Englishman Edward Eaton, a merchant who met
her Chinese mother while on a business trip to Shanghai, China. Born in
England, she grew up in Montreal, Quebec.
I was recently re-reading a short memoir piece she wrote back in 1890. (It’s
called “Leaves from the mental portfolio of an Eurasian.”) 120 years later, it
still feels strangely contemporary. There was one paragraph that reminded me
of the scene in Spork, where spork is trying to fit in (or “pass”) by making
himself look more “spoonish” or “forkish”.
Here it is:
“I also meet some funny people who advise me to “trade”
upon my nationality. They tell me that if I wish to succeed in
literature in America I should dress in Chinese costume, carry
a fan in my hand, wear a pair of scarlet beaded slippers, live in
New York, and come of high birth. Instead of making myself
familiar with the Chinese Americans around me, I should
discourse on my spirit acquaintance with Chinese ancestors.”