Discussion of When the Emperor was Divine

When the Emperor Was Divine is assigned reading for this year's freshman class. Begun as part of her thesis at Columbia University, Emperor is Julie Otsuka's first novel. The subject matter is very personal for Otsuka whose family was interned during WWII. Her grandfather was arrested by the FBI the day after Pearl Harbor, and her mother, then 11 years old, and her uncle and grandmother were sent to Topaz, Utah, for the duration of the war.

Rather than using her own family stories for material, Otsuka did extensive research, wanting to write a novel about real people whose experiences are universal not only for Japanese Americans but for people of any ethnic group. “All throughout history people have been rounded up and sent away into exile,” says Otsuka. “The predicament of the family in my novel … is that of ordinary people caught up in the extraordinary.” The “quietly disturbing” novel moves between dreams, memories and sharply emblematic moments.

Otsuka was a winner of the sixth annual Asian American Literary Award in 2003 and a 2004 recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship. Her current project is a novel that continues the exploration of some themes found in When the Emperor Was Divine.

Admission is free.