Novel
America Is in the Heart
Carlos Bulosan · 1946
Synopsis
The narrator, Allos, grows up in a peasant family in Luzon, ruined by absentee landlords, which sells its property to pay for a brother's studies. In 1930 he leaves for America. Landing in Seattle almost penniless, he is sold by a Filipino labour contractor to the canneries of Alaska, then moves down to California, where he experiences racism, hunger and the violence done to Filipino workers, and joins the labour movement.
Context
The book appeared in 1946 in the United States, with the subtitle A Personal History: it blends the author's life, that of his brothers and friends, and a share of fiction. Reissued in 1973 by University of Washington Press, with an introduction by Carey McWilliams, it became an emblem of the Filipino American movement of the seventies. A Filipino translation, Nasa Puso ang Amerika, appeared in 1993; the book has not been translated into French.
Who it is for
To read the great text of the Filipino American experience, about the immigrant workers of the West Coast.
Prizes and reception
Carey McWilliams sees in it a social classic; critics compare it with The Grapes of Wrath and with Richard Wright's Black Boy.