Adachi, Jiro (?– )
The novelist Jiro Adachi was raised in New York
City by his Japanese father and Hungarian mother.
His first language was not English per se but rather,
as he describes it, “a form of malleable English”
used in his ethnically mixed household. After re-
ceiving his B.A. from Columbia University, Adachi
earned an M.F.A. in fiction from Colorado State
University. After teaching at Colorado State Uni-
versity, the Stern College for Women, and Hunter
College, Adachi is presently a faculty member at
New York’s New School. Besides writing several es-
says for the New York Times, Adachi drew upon his
extensive experience as both a bicycle messenger
in New York City and as a teacher of English as a
foreign language for his critically acclaimed 2004
debut novel The Island of Bicycle Dancers.
The protagonist of The Island of Bicycle Danc-
ers is Yurika Song, a 20-year-old half-Japanese
and half-Korean woman who feels alienated in
her homeland of Japan due to her mixed ethnic-
ity. Yurika is frequently mocked by her friends for
being, as they say, “half-sushi/half kim-chi,” and
assailed by her parents for being too rebellious for
her own good. Feeling their daughter to be lead-
ing an aimless existence, Yurika’s parents send her
to live with her aunt and uncle in New York City,
hoping that spending time in America will help rid
her of her rebellious disposition. After moving to
America, Yurika goes to work in her uncle’s gro-
cery store in New York City and begins to learn
vernacular English from the various people she
encounters both in the shop and in the city. Yurika
soon becomes enthralled with the city’s liveliness
and multitude of cultures and languages. She is
particularly intrigued by the unique underground
world of the various bike messengers who frequent
the store, whose apparent freedom and rebellious
lifestyle she both relishes and envies. She quickly
befriends a messenger named Whitey, feeling at-
tracted to his open personality and particular
gift for slang. Whitey exposes Yurika to a magi-
cal side of New York City radically different from
the world she had previously experienced. He also
teaches her the art of bicycle maintenance, which
becomes a dominant metaphor for both trauma
and healing throughout the novel. Yurika also falls
in love with Bone, a Puerto Rican bicycle messen-
ger who has a far more dangerous personality than
Whitey, and who exposes her to the mysteries of
sex and romantic love. A complicated and danger-
ous love triangle quickly forms between Yurika,
Bone, and Whitey that threatens, by the end of the
novel, to explode into passionate violence. Yurika’s
aunt, the vindictive Hyun Jeong, who feels that her
husband’s niece has been unfairly foisted upon
her, serves as a villainous figure and a counter-
force against the bicycle messengers with whom
Yurika begins to discover freedom and direction.
Hyun attacks every attempt Yurika makes toward
self-improvement. But despite the numerous ob-
stacles she faces, both in her family and social life,
Yurika ultimately learns how to navigate her own
existence through the mutually difficult terrains of
family expectations and obligations, and through
her American life in the multicultural environs of
New York City.
Adachi’s main thematic concern in The Island
of Bicycle Dancers is not simply with presenting
various cultures in ideological conflict and mis-
understanding with each other, but, rather, with
different cultures attempting to reconcile their dif-
ferences and align themselves with one another for
the purpose of mutual survival and growth. Ada-
chi’s sweeping range of dynamic characters and
dramatic turns in plot recall the style of Charles
Dickens. And like Dickens, Adachi’s ultimate
strength lies in the sheer vibrancy and verve of his
prose style. His narrative voice and the manner in
which his dialogue embodies each of his charac-
ters’ unique cultural backgrounds and experiences
are entirely distinct and original in contemporary
American literature.
James R. FlemingAi (1947– )
Author of several award-winning books of poetry,
Ai is foremost among controversial contemporary
American poets; her work is often categorized as
a critique of contemporary American society. Her
volumes of poetry include Cruelty (1973), Killing
Floor (1979), Lamont Poetry Selection of the Acad-6 Adachi, Jiro