Research Catalog

Title

Modern Japanese women writers as artists as cultural critics : Miyamoto, Ōba, Saegusa / Michiko Niikuni Wilson.

Author

Wilson, Michiko N.

Publication

• Portland, Maine : MerwinAsia, [2013]
• ©2013

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

x, 236 pages : illustrations; 23 cm

Summary

The subject of this book has not received adequate attention from Japan specialists in North America. Translated and discussed here are critical essays by three of the most innovative, out-spoken, and provocative women writers in recent Japanese literary history: Yuriko Miyamoto (1899-1951), Saegusa Kazuko (1929- ), and Minako Oba (1930-2007) with the objective of, one, presenting a Japan that thrives in and on a multiplicity of voices, in contrast to its conformist image in the West; and, two, filling the critical need for English translations of primary sources aimed, in particular, at non-Japan specialists. The notion of women as "cultural critics" stretches back to the Heian era (797-1190 CE), and is notably exmplified by Sei Shonagon's The Pillow Book (992 CE), which, with its wit, barbed references, and no-nonsense comments on life around her, has become part of the Japanese literary canon. Her legacy reappeared after a long hiatus in the generation of women writers who swiftly took advantage of the "Taisho (1911-1926) Democracy." The "Woman Question" debate in Japan today, which Japanese women view as a basic human rights issue, has been revisited by contemporary Japanese women writers who have also gradually developed a feminist credo that espouses the equality of men and women concomitant with the expansion of the emotional interaction and intellectual interchange between the sexes. Book jacket.

Alternative Title

Miyamoto, Ōba, Saegusa

Subject

• Miyamoto, Yuriko, 1899-1951 > Criticism and interpretation
• Ōba, Minako > Criticism and interpretation
• Saegusa, Kazuko, 1929-2003 > Criticism and interpretation
• Miyamoto, Yuriko, 1899-1951
• Ōba, Minako
• Saegusa, Kazuko, 1929-2003
• Miyamoto, Yuriko 1899-1951
• Ōba, Minako 1930-2007
• Saegusa, Kazuko 1929-2003
• 1900-1999
• Women authors, Japanese > 20th century > Biography
• Authors as artists > Japan > 20th century > Biography
• Women critics > Japan > 20th century > Biography
• Écrivaines japonaises > 20e siècle > Biographies
• Écrivains artistes > Japon > 20e siècle > Biographies
• Femmes critiques > Japon > 20e siècle > Biographies
• Authors as artists
• Women authors, Japanese
• Women critics
• Autorin
• Japanische Literatur
• Japanisch
• Litteraturvetenskap > författare > Japan > 1900-talet
• Kvinnorörelsen > feminism
• Könsroller
• Literary studies > authors > Japan > 20th century
• Women's movement > feminism
• Gender roles
• Japanska kvinnliga författare
• Författare som konstnärer
• Kvinnliga litteraturkritiker
• Japan

Genre/Form

• collective biographies.
• Biographies
• Criticism, interpretation, etc.
• Biographies.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-227) and index.

Contents

Yuriko Miyamoto -- Minako Oba -- Kazuko Saegusa -- ch. 1 Yuriko Miyamoto (1899-1951) -- Women's History: Following in the Footsteps of Literature -- What Is "Womanliness"? -- The Earth Still Moves -- ch. 2 Minako Oba (1930-2007) -- Using "The Eyes of the Other" to See the Self Objectively -- The Husband's Place, the Wife's Place -- Toronto Travel Notes -- The Human Archetype -- The Premonition of Living Creatures -- ch. 3 Kazuko Saegusa (1929-2003) -- In Lieu of an "Afterword" -- Regarding What Is a Woman? -- "Women's Logic, Women's Passion" -- Men's Responsibility in the Matter of Love -- You Mean All I Have to Do Is Marry and Get Pregnant?.

ISBN

• 9780983299127
• 0983299129
• 9780983299134
• 0983299137

LCCN

2012952900

OCLC

• 851473946
• SCSB-10278413

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library