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Milton Atsushi Murayama

むらやま あつし

Murayama Atsushi

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1923-04-10 （Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, USA）
Died
2016-07-27 （Honolulu (reported)） age 93
Nationality
United States
Languages
English, Japanese (knowledge)
Residence History
Lahaina (Maui) → Pu'ukoli'i (sugar plantation camp) → Honolulu (University of Hawaiʻi / return) → Washington, D.C. → San Francisco

Career

Occupations
novelist, playwright
Active Years
1959-2008

Education

University of Hawaiʻi
English and Philosophy
Degree: B.A.
Period: 1939-1946 (中断・復学等あり)
Year of Graduation: 1946
Country: United States
Attended before and after World War II; degree completed in 1946
Columbia University
Chinese and Japanese studies (graduate)
Degree: M.A.
Period: 1948-1950
Year of Graduation: 1950
Country: United States
Attended under the G.I. Bill; master's in Chinese and Japanese

Awards

American Book Award
1980
Work: All I Asking for Is My Body
Organization: Before Columbus Foundation
Result: 受賞
Hawai'i Award for Literature
1991
Organization: State of Hawai'i
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

All I Asking for Is My Body

1975 novel

A novel depicting a poor Japanese American family living on Hawaii's sugar plantations before and during World War II. Major themes include family debt, filial duty, colonial/economic pressures, and a young man's coming of age. The narrative is in three parts following the protagonist Kiyo.

familyfilial pietyimmigrant experienceplantation laboridentity
Adaptations
  • [stage play] All I Asking for Is My Body (play) (1989)

Five Years on a Rock

1994 novel (prequel)

A prequel to All I Asking for Is My Body, covering the family history from 1914 to 1935. It deals with the immigrant couple, their children, plantation labor, and community life.

immigrant historyfamily originsplantation life

Plantation Boy

1998 novel

Told from Toshio's (later Steve) perspective, it portrays facets of family history including plantation boxing and his trajectory toward being an architect.

personal developmentwork and professionfamily obligations

Dying in a Strange Land

2008 novel

A later novel reflecting on death in a strange land, isolation, and the ruptures and continuities between immigrant generations and their children.

deathisolationgenerational rupture

Bibliography

  • All I Asking for Is My Body (1975)
  • Five Years on a Rock (1994)
  • Plantation Boy (1998)
  • Dying in a Strange Land (2008)
  • Short story "I'll Crack Your Head Kotsun" (Arizona Quarterly 1959; reprinted in The Spell of Hawaii 1968)

Adaptations

  • All I Asking for Is My Body (stage adaptation, 1989)
  • Yoshitsune (play, 1977)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
realist narrationdialogue incorporating Hawaii Pidgin/Creolestrong regional color
Recurring Motifs
family duty and conflictplantation daily lifeloyalty vs. self-determination

Legacy

Murayama's major works are acclaimed for their realistic depiction of Japanese American life in Hawaii, utilizing regional dialect. They occupy an important place in regional and immigrant literature in the U.S.; reissues by university press garnered critical attention and a cult following.

Trivia

  • Born a Nisei (second-generation Japanese American).
  • Served in Military Intelligence as a translator and was sent to Taiwan during World War II.
  • Best-known novel 'All I Asking for Is My Body' (1975) won the American Book Award in 1980 and was reissued by the University of Hawaiʻi Press in 1988.
  • His work frequently uses Hawaii Pidgin/Creole while remaining accessible to non-Pidgin readers.
  • Received the Hawai'i Award for Literature in 1991.