| Be a Woman: Hayashi Fumiko and Modern Japanese Women's Literature Contributor(s): Ericson, Joan E. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0824859103 ISBN-13: 9780824859107 Publisher: University of Hawaii Press OUR PRICE: $71.25 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: June 2016 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | Asian - Japanese - Literary Criticism | Women Authors - Social Science | Women's Studies |
| Dewey: 895.634 |
| Physical Information: 0.69" H x 6" W x 9" (1.23 lbs) 292 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Asian - Cultural Region - Japanese - Sex & Gender - Feminine - Ethnic Orientation - Japanese |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Joan Ericson's magnificent survey of writing by Japanese women significantly advances the current debate over the literary category of women's literature in modern Japan and demonstrates its significance in the life and work of twentieth-century Japan's most important woman writer, Hayashi Fumiko (1903-1951). Until the early 1980s, the literary category of women's literature (joryu bungaku) segregated most writing by modern Japanese women from the literary canon. Women's literature was viewed as a sentimental and impressionistic literary style that was popular but was critically disparaged. A close scrutiny of Hayashi Fumiko's work--in particular the two pieces masterfully translated here, the immensely popular novel Horoki (Diary of a Vagabond) and Suisen (Narcissus)--shows the inadequacies of categorizing her writing as women's literature. Its originality and power are rooted in the clarity and immediacy with which Hayashi is able to convey the humanity of those occupying the underside of Japanese society, especially women. |