| The following is a list of known major bonsai references in fiction. |
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1893
Samantha at the World's Fair by Josiah Allen's Wife (Marietta Holley) (New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company) |
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This author wrote a number of novels about the adventures of an elderly
couple who lived on a farm in rural New York. They are written in
a faux rustic dialect, with intentional misspellings and poor
grammar. Satirical in nature, they were a platform for the
author's progressive views. In this particular book, Josiah Allen and his wife, who tells the story, travel to Chicago to attend the Columbian Exposition in 1893. There are detailed descriptions of many of the buildings and displays, including several references to dwarf trees: "[In the Horticultural Building t]here wuz Japanese dwarf trees one hundred years old and about as big as gooseberries." (pg. 391) "All of the north part of the [Wooded Island where there was a building displaying goods from Japan] is a marvellous show of their skill and ingenuity in landscape gardenin', and dwarf trees, and the wonderful garden effects for which they are noted." (pg. 403) "[There were houses in the Japanese village a]nd the little gardens round the housen looked curious as a dog, and curiouser, with trees and shrubs dwarfed and trained into forms of animals and so forth." (pg. 406) <Per Craig Cowing in personal e-mail to RJB on Dec. 15, 2003, who also sent photocopies to RJB of the title page and pp. 390-407.> |
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1913
The Motor Maids in Fair Japan by Katherine Stokes
(New York: Hurst Pub)
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One in a series of children's tales of four famous travelers and their
chaperone, always off somewhere in their Red Motor Car, "The
Comet." Four passages are noted in the Project Gutenberg edition of this book: "Billie made a superhuman effort not to laugh, while Mary stooped to break off a spray of azaleas and Elinor examined intently a stunted pine tree planted in a big green jar near the path." "Japanese gardeners are very fond of cultivating these dwarf trees. Some of the tiniest are said to be of great age. The arrested development contorts the venerable branches into strange twisted forms but they put forth blossoms and foliage with systematic dignity." "The 'riksha had drawn up at the piazza and the two runners, after the personage in fancy dress had descended, lifted out a very aged and no doubt extremely costly dwarfed apple tree growing in a green vase, and a lacquered box." "'Walt!' he said, disappearing into the hall and reappearing in a moment with an aged, gnarled dwarf apple tree growing in a green vase, and a lacquered box beautifully inlaid with mother-of-pearl." |
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1970
"Slow Sculpture" by Theodore Sturgeon
Galaxy Magazine,
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This science fiction short story concerns a self-exiled scientist, a woman
seeking health and understanding, and one fifteen [sic] foot tall bonsai.
Part of Sturgeon's lifelong exploration of the theme of human love, this
tale includes some brief but insightful commentary on the art of bonsai
-- despite the size of the technically misnamed subject tree, which is
not further identified than as "a cypress or juniper." Best line: "It is the slowest sculpture in the world, and there is, at times, doubt as to which is being sculpted, man or tree." (pg. 49) The story was subsequently voted Best Novelette of 1970 by the Science Fiction Writers of America. It has since been included in several anthologies. See Nebula Award Stories Six, edited by Clifford B. Simak (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc; 1971; pp. 1-28) or The Best of the Nebulas, edited by Ben Bova (1989, pp. 402-418). Also excerpted in Journal, ABS, Fall 1970, pp. 9, 13, and Bonsai, BCI, October 1976, pg. 265. |
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1983
The Bonsai Tree by Meira Chand (New Haven, CT: Ticknor & Fields. 228 pp.) |
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This novel deals primarily with the conflict between traditional Japanese
society and the encroaching modern world, with interesting background on
the underside of the Land of the Rising Sun.
Bonsai is used as a metaphor for the traditional shaping/enculturation of the Japanese, particularly on pp. 226-228. |
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1985
The Eternal Spring of Mr. Ito by Sheila Garrigue
(New York: Bradbury Press.
162 pp.) |
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The fate of a 200-year-old bonsai tree is decided by a young girl and an
old Japanese Canadian gardener who resists being imprisoned in an internment
camp after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Young adult.
<Not yet reviewed. Suggested by Daniel Avrin in post to rec.arts.bonsai newsgroup, November 12, 1999> See review at http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/winter95/Shaw.html |
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1987
MORT by Terry Pratchett (Jan. 1, 1987, Trafalgar Square, ISBN 0575061677, hardcover; February 2001, Harper Prism, ISBN 0061020680, reissue edition paperback) |
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"In the book, MORT, the title character takes a spin as Death's apprentice.
Yes, THE Death (black cowl, skeleton features, scythe, hourglass, etc.)
While Mort is attending to the demise of one of his, ahem, 'clients,' Death's
horse, Binky, waits around outside while making a late lunch of someone's
500 year old bonsai. Is it possible to shudder with horror at the
same time as you are laughing uproariously?"
<Not yet reviewed. Suggested by Daniel Avrin in post to rec.arts.bonsai newsgroup, February 04, 2002> (Well, duh, if Death cut the tree down wouldn't it just regrow? Bonsai need a special way to be "sent south." -- RJB) |
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1994
Dark Swan by Kathryn Lasky Knight
(New York: St. Martin's
Press. 214 pp. ISBN: 0-312-10961-X)
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A Calista Jacobs mystery.
"House-sitting while her own home is being remodeled, children's book illustrator and sometime amateur sleuth Calista Jacobs is hard at work on her next book, a retelling of the classic story The Emperor and the Nightingale. Serendipitously, her new Beacon Hill neighbor, Quintana "Queenie" Kingsley, cultivates bonsai, the perfect landscape for the fairy tale. Making sketches every day while Quintana works on her plants, Calista gets a peek at the narrow world of the Boston brahmins. And when Calista discovers the older woman's murdered body, she feels compelled to investigate..." <Not yet reviewed.> |
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1995
"Bonsai" in Late Summer Break by Ann B. Knox
(Watsonville, CA: Papier-Mache
Press. ISBN: 0-918949-65-3) |
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Pp. 120-128.
A widowed woman and her two adult daughters come to grips with choices, expectations and letting some things just be. Best lines: "Bonsai isn't just decoration; the trees need tending, watering. You accept them for what they are -- growing things. "...You make the tree more fully itself." (pg. 126) <Read, but not yet fully reviewed> |
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Master of Many Treasures
by Mary Brown
(Riverdale, NY: Baen Publishing.
ISBN: 0671876937)
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" . . . . I had sat there [in a garden in an odd Buddhist monastery] during
the day a couple of times, on one of the two stone benches, amid pots of
exotic plants, ivies, and those tiny stunted trees so beloved by the people
of this land. Pines, firs, even cherry trees were bound and twisted
into grotesque shapes no higher than my hand, yet it is said that they
were as much as one hundred years old!
"I wondered vaguely if it hurt them to be twisted so unnaturally, and whether it would be a kindness to dig them all up secretly and replant them in the freedom of unrestrictedsoil many miles away. Or were they so used to their pot-bound existence that they would perish without special nurturing?" <Not yet reviewed. Suggested by Jim Lewis in post to rec.arts.bonsai newsgroup, November 19, 2001> |
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1998
Bloody Bonsai by Peter E. Abresch
(Aurora, CO: Write Way
Publishing; First Edition.
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A James P. Dandy Elderhostel Mystery that takes place during a four day
bonsai workshop. The chief murder weapon: the jinned branch of a
bonsai.
Best line: "That was the original purpose of bonsai, to create not a copy, but a remembrance of God's handiwork." (pg. 158) A few minor loose ends remain at story's end, but overall a pretty nice read. Quite satisfactorily covers the information which would be given in such a workshop. |
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1999
The Bonsai Bear by Bernard Libster
(Illumination Arts Publishing
Company, Incorporated;
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"A Japanese artist attempts to use bonsai cultivating techniques to control
and limit the growth of a young bear, not caring that he is denying the
animal his proper place in nature."
Ages 5 to 12. <Not yet reviewed.> |
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2000
"The Bonsai Tree" by Morag McDowell (Southern Ocean Review, New Zealand's first on-line International Literary Magazine, 15th Issue, 12th April, 2000) |
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An online short story. Uh, different. New 05/17/05 |
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2002
Yen Shei and the American Bonsai by Jennifer Anna (Author), Karen Hallion (Illustrator) (Blue Works, 200 pp., ISBN 1590920465) |
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Pronouncing her name for everyone is the least of Yen Shei's troubles when her family moves from their apartment in Chinatown to a house in suburbia. She misses the Wong Market, where she used to buy ricepaper candy; Lou's books, where she used to read manga; the New Luck Restaurant and Little Mann Theater. But on her first day of fifth grade at her new school, Yen Shei meets teacher Kris D'Laine and starts to think about community and family in new and different ways. Ms. D'Laine helps Yen Shei understand that even though we all seem very different, we're actually much the same. Full-color interior artwork by Karen Hallion. Each book comes with two paper lanterns for readers to create and a set of bonsai and lantern stickers. All books are handmade and autographed by the author. New 02/22/07 |
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2003
"Ampalaya, Bonsai, Atbp." by Reuel Molina Aguila (Faculty Center in the University of the Philippines in Diliman, September 25, 2003) |
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An anthology of his plays, essays and futuristic fiction. His last play, "Bonsai," is about fighting oppression. Using this unique Japanese art as a symbol, he tries to make the reader understand that a corrupt society cannot be changed by keeping one's mouth shut. New 01/10/07 |
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| RJB is aware of other works which use bonsai as a metaphor for a variety of life situations, positive and negative. These will be listed here as time permits. Anyone who knows of additional literary references to bonsai is asked to please e-mail rjb@phoenixbonsai.com . Contributor acknowledgment will be posted. Please include as many details as possible. Thank-you! |