Many Mouthed Birds: Contemporary Writing by Chinese Canadians

Elizabeth St. Jacques is a writer and poet living in Sault Ste. Marie,
Ontario.

The title of this collection derives from a Chinese maxim referring to
those who speak up when they should discreetly keep quiet. As co-editor
Lee says, “[the] many-mouthed birds [here] are breaking a long and
often self-imposed silence.” His introduction also informs us that
“Chinese Canadians have not, until recently, produced any formal
literature worthy of more than passing notice.” This was largely due
to restrictions that denied the Chinese full participation in Canadian
society until the 1950s; since then, Chinese writers have been
published, but in numbers relatively small compared to writers of other
cultural groups.

In this collection, 20 writers present 9 stories and 18 poems. Among
the award-winning writers is Fred Wah, who earned the 1985 Governor
General’s Literary Award for poetry. As moving as some of the poems
are (Lucy Ng’s “The Sullen Shapes of Poems” and Wah’s
“Elite” are both superb), the stories are particularly memorable,
bringing to life the full weight, color, and mysterious heartbeat of the
Chinese spirit.

Like the Chinese themselves, these stories usually conceal another
story beneath the surface. For example, Garry Engkent’s humorous
“Why My Mother Can’t Speak English” contains an undercurrent of
sadness when the son senses that he may not be “Chinese enough any
more to understand” his old mother, while Paul Yee’s “Prairie
Night 1939” reveals the struggle of a Chinese businessman torn between
two cultures and the sacrifices imposed on him by both. Wayson Choy’s
“The Jade Peony” concerns a grandmother and her devoted grandchild
as they work together to make wind chimes in preparation for the old
woman’s approaching death; tender and sensitive, with exquisitely
lyrical passages, this story is a classic.

There are disappointments. Some work seems misplaced, either because it
is experimental or because it deals with subjects outside the Chinese
framework. The effect would have been more coherent had the focus been
on cultural subjects only. Nevertheless, as the editors hoped, this
anthology is “a beginning step” and an important one in introducing
Chinese-Canadian writers to a broad Canadian audience. This reader looks
forward to much more in the future.