A Revolutionary Romance: Particularity and Universality in Karen Tei Yamashita's I Hotel

Abstract

Early in the fifth novella of Karen Tei Yamashita’s historical novel I Hotel (2010), three characters involved in the San Francisco struggle over the I-Hotel have an exchange about racial identification. Two of the characters—Ben and Olivia—are young Asian American revolutionaries, part of San Francisco State College and the University of California, Berkeley’s Third World Strikes, who are fumbling toward both romance and revolution. Their mentor, Karl Kang, sets the stage for their courtship in the context of a Marxist reading group. At one point during the couple’s study-group courtship, the dialogue (the lines of which Yamashita numbers)1 turns to the relationship between ethnicity and broader struggle: 7.3 Ben asked, When did we become Asian American? 7.4 Olivia answered, What sort of question is that? 7.5 Karl interrupted. Wait, it’s not a stupid question. Nineteen sixty-six. There’s a magazine article about the Japanese American model minority, a kind of American. Before that, Japanese are racially identified as Japanese—otherwise how could they all be interned during the war? After sixty-six, we all get racially identified as hyphenated Americans. 7.6 Olivia posed, But Asian American is a political designation. 7.7 Karl answered, It’s political, racial, and national. Look, you are organizing around this designation, and that’s useful, but you are going to have to scrutinize it through a Marxist analysis that includes class. Hey, trust me. This is going to make or break you. 7.8 Ben asked, You mean we have to move away from race and organize based on class? 7.9 Karl shook his head. Don’t think it’s that easy. (321)

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