Woman Critiqued: Translated Essays on Japanese Women’s Writing

293 Pages·2006·3.579 MB·English

by  Rebecca L. Copeland

woman Critiqued
rebecca l. copeland, editor
woman Critiqued
translated
essays on
japanese women’s
writing
university of hawai‘i press
Honolulu
©2006UniversityofHawai‘iPress
Allrightsreserved
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
11 10 09 08 07 06 6 5 4 3 2 1
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Womancritiqued:translatedessaysonJapanese
women’swriting/RebeccaL.Copeland,editor.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn-13:978-0-8248-2958-2(hardcover:alk.paper)
isbn-10:0-8248-2958-1(hardcover:alk.paper)
isbn-13:978-0-8248-3038-0(pbk.:alk.paper)
isbn-10:0-8248-3038-5(pbk.:alk.paper)
1.Japaneseliterature—Womenauthors—Historyand
criticism. 2.Japaneseliterature—20thcentury—
Historyandcriticism. 3.Womenauthors,
Japanese—20thcentury. i.Copeland,RebeccaL.
pl725.w662006
895.6'0992870904—dc22 2005025329
Titlepageillustration:MeikoAndo,ForestDance,
2000.
UniversityofHawai‘iPressbooksareprintedon
acid-freepaperandmeettheguidelinesforperma-
nenceanddurabilityoftheCouncilonLibrary
Resources.
DesignedbyRichardHendel
PrintedbySheridanBooks,Inc.
contents
Preface vii
ACenturyofReadingWomen’sWritinginJapan:AnIntroduction 1
ByRebeccaL.Copeland
chapter1:TheFeminineCritique:
‘‘Womanliness’’andtheWomanWriter 21
IntroductionbyRebeccaL.Copeland
OnWomenandTranslation KunikidaDoppo 28
TranslatedbyJudyWakabayashi
WomenandPoeticThought MiwataMasako 31
TranslatedbyJanineBeichman
OnWomenWriters OguriFūyōetal. 33
TranslatedbyRebeccaL.Copeland
WhatIs‘‘Womanliness’’? YosanoAkiko 40
TranslatedbyLaurelRasplicaRodd
WomenWriters KobayashiHideo 47
TranslatedbyKathrynPierceandMikaEndo
chapter2:TheEssentialWomanWriter 53
IntroductionbyJanBardsley
RequirementsforBecomingaWomanWriter SetouchiHarumi 61
TranslatedbyRebeccaL.Copeland
IsFictionInherentlytheRealmofWomen? OkunoTakeo 66
TranslatedbyBarbaraHartley
ConfessionsofaWomen’sLiteratureConvert AkiyamaShun 72
TranslatedbyBarbaraHartley
chapter3:TheNarcissisticWomanWriter 76
IntroductionbyTomokoAoyamaandBarbaraHartley
OnNarcissism MishimaYukio 83
TranslatedbyTomokoAoyamaandBarbaraHartley
ContemporaryWomen’sLiterature HasegawaIzumi 87
TranslatedbyTomokoAoyamaandBarbaraHartley
Narcissism,Cynicism,andtheWritingofWomen TanakaMiyoko 95
TranslatedbyTomokoAoyama
NakednessandDecorationinWomen’sWriting HaraShirō 100
TranslatedbyTomokoAoyama
Women,Narcissism,andOkamotoKanoko ShibusawaTatsuhiko 107
TranslatedbyTomokoAoyamaandBarbaraHartley
chapter4:TheResistingWomanWriter 114
IntroductionbyJoanE.Ericson
FemaleSexualityandtheMaleGaze:Adialoguebetween
TakahashiTakakoandTsushimaYūko 119
TranslatedbyMaryellenTomanMori
Women’sLanguageandtheNationalLanguage TomiokaTaeko 135
TranslatedbyJoanE.EricsonandYoshikoNagaoka
TheSubjectofWomen’sLiteratureandtheTransformation
ofItsConsciousness NakayamaKazuko 145
TranslatedbyJoanE.EricsonandYoshikoNagaoka
chapter5:WomenWritersandAlternativeCritiques 153
IntroductionbyAmandaSeaman
TranslationandGender:Trans/gender/lation MizutaNoriko 159
TranslatedbyJudyWakabayashi
YoshimotoBananaandGirlCulture SaitōMinako 167
TranslatedbyEijiSekine
TheConsciousnessoftheGirl:FreedomandArrogance TakaharaEiri 185
TranslatedbyTomokoAoyamaandBarbaraHartley
ForaGentleCastration MatsuuraRieko 194
TranslatedbyAmandaSeaman
chapter6:WomenCritiquingMen:WatchingtheRipples
onthePond 206
IntroductionbyRebeccaL.Copeland
OnMen’sLiterature UenoChizuko,OguraChikako,and TomiokaTaeko 210
TranslatedbyMaryellenTomanMori
GlossaryofNamesandTerms 235
Bibliography 253
RecommendedFurtherReading 259
AbouttheContributors 273
Index 275
preface
Idon’twishnottobeawoman,butI’dcertainlylike
tobeawomanwhosesenseofpurposecomesfromwithin.
—UnoChiyo,‘‘AGeniusofImitation’’
‘‘Just once I would like to read a work bya woman writer without
beingremindedofhersex.’’Ihaveheardthiscommentfromtimetotimeever
sinceIbeganthestudyoftheJapanesewomanwriterUnoChiyointheearly
1980s.Atfirsttheremarkcamefromseniorscholarsinthefield.Morerecently
Ihaveheardthesamefromstudents.Thestatementisclearlymotivatedbya
desire to treat all writers fairly, neutrally, equally—as artists. Implicit to the
statementaswellisawishtogetbeyonddelimitingframeworks,todepoliticize
readings,andto‘‘open’’textstonewinterpretations.Beforewecrossthethresh-
oldintoanaestheticallypurerealmofreading,however,greaterattentionstill
needstobepaidtothefactthatfewwomenwritersoverthecourseofthelast
centuryhavebeenallowedtowritewithoutbeingremindedoftheirsex.One
canwellimaginethatthewomanwriterwhoisreadasawomanwritermight
herselfthinkonoccasion,‘‘JustonceIwouldliketowriteaworkwithoutbeing
remindedofmysex.’’Butitisnotreallyone’sownsexthatonewouldliketo
getbeyond,surely,butthewaythatsexhasbeenscripted,theexpectationsthat
1
surroundit,the‘‘assumptionsinwhich[itis]drenched.’’
Avarietyoffactorsinspiredthisvolume.Western-languagescholarshipon
Japaneseliteraturehasbeenengagedintherevisionistworkofrecoveringlost
ormarginalizedwomenwriterssincethelate1970s.Thefruitsofthislaborhave
resultedintranslationsandbiographiesthathaveenrichedourunderstanding
ofthesewomen’screativeenergiesandof Japaneseliteratureasawhole.The
lastfifteenyearshaveseenconferences,panels,andsymposiadedicatedtoex-
ploring the link between genderand discursive practices in Japan. A number
ofthesehaveculminatedinproceedingsandpublicationsthathaveincreased
interestinwomen’swritingandthedynamicsofgendereddiscoursesinJapa-
neseliterature.Thisvolumecomplementsthisworkandfurthersthefieldby
offeringreadersmoreofthecontextsinandagainstwhichwomenhavewritten
intwentieth-centuryJapan.
TheworkofWestern-languagescholarsonJapanesewomen’sliteraturehas
providedthosewhodonotreadJapanesewithanimportantwindowontoan
aspectof Japaneseculturelongignoredbymainstreammediaandacademics.
Inthisregardaswellithasbeenofimmensevalue.Butwhatofthewaywomen
havebeenreceivedandreadinJapan?How,asmystudentsfrequentlyask,did
JapanesereadersreadtheJapanesewomenwriterswestudyinclass?Initscol-
lectivemissionofprovidingtranslationsofcriticalessays,thisbookadvances
ourunderstandingofthewaywomenwritershavebeenreceivedinJapanover
thecourseofthetwentiethcenturyandexpandsourunderstandingoftherole
ofgenderandwritingwithinaJapaneseculturalcontext.
Translations of Japanese literary criticism have increased over the last de-
cadesaswell.ThankstotheworkofAileenGatten,NicholasTeele,MarkHar-
bison, Earl Miner, David Chibbett, and others, we have multivolume trans-
lations of the literary histories of scholars such as Konishi Jin’ichi and Katō
Shūichi.Subsequentlywehavebeentreatedtotranslationsofworksbycritics
withamoremodernfocus.BrettdeBarytranslatedandeditedKarataniKōjin’s
incisive The Origins of Modern Japanese Literature in 1993. Paul Anderer fol-
lowedin1995withtranslationsfromKobayashiHideo’sprewarworks.Michele
Marrabroughtoutacollectionofessaysin1999undertherubricofmodern
Japaneseaesthetics,introducingEnglishreaderstotheartisticconsiderations
underpinning much of the subsequent literary production in Japan. In 2001
MichaelBourdaghstranslatedKameiHideo’sTransformationsofSensibility:The
Phenomenologyof Meiji Literature, an incisive study bya renowned scholarof
Meiji(1868–1912)literature.MorerecentlyJamesFujiihaseditedacollection
oftranslationsofMaedaAi’sessays,thusbringingtheworkofthisprominent
literarycritictoanEnglishreadership.WomanCritiquedtakesitscuefromthese
precursors.Ratherthanfocusingontheworkofasinglecritic,thisstudycon-
centratesonthewayavarietyofcritics,writers,andscholars—maleandfemale,
prominentandobscure—havecritiqued,constructed,andconfrontedthecon-
ceptof ‘‘thewritingwoman’’inJapan.
VolumeArrangement
Giventhatthesubjectunderdiscussioninthisvolumeisliterature,readers
willfindtheessayshereinbrimmingwiththenamesofauthors,editors,pub-
lishers,andawardsandthetitlesofstories,books,andjournals.Evenforthose
familiarwithtwentieth-centuryJapaneseliterature,thebarrageofnamesmay
be daunting. In an effort to provide essential context for the translations, to
identifythenamesintroduced,andtokeependnotestoaminimum,theworks
arearrangedintochaptersprecededbyintroductionsthatsupplyinformation
forappreciatingthetextsunderconsideration.Inaddition,theglossaryatthe
viii preface
endofthisvolumeprovidesbriefintroductionsofthenamesthatappearinthe
essays;contributorsareidentifiedbytheirinitials.
Thisvolumeoffersavarietyofsnapshotsfromdifferenterasandperspectives
soastoexemplifythecomplexitiesofthereceptionthatawaitedthe‘‘writing
woman.’’Noteveryera,sector,oraspectofwomen’swritinginthetwentieth
centurycouldberepresented.ToassisttheEnglish-languagereaderswanting
todelvedeeper,Ihaveappendedabibliographythatincludestheworkscitedin
thisvolume,aswellasalistofrecommendedfurtherreadingsforthosewishing
tocontinuetheexplorationofmodernJapanesewomen’swriting.
Acknowledgments
Asabookisbeingwritten,ideasgrowandtransformwiththeprogressof
theproject—oftentothepointwheretheendversionlookslittleliketheearlier
imagined. In a single-author work, this kind of creative development is not
undulydemanding.Butwithcollaborativevolumesthechallengeschangewith
theresponsibilities.Itisgenerallyeasierforanauthortocommunicateherown
inchoate ideas to herself than it is to try to articulate them to a wide assort-
mentofcollaborators.Shecanimposedeadlinesonherselfandthenmovethem
atwillwithoutelaborateapology.Shecanissuedirectivestoherselfandthen
changehermind.Buttobehavethiswaywithacollaborativeworktaxesthe
patienceandtheloyaltiesofone’scontributors.Iamguiltyoftestingmycol-
laborators. And I consider myself extremely fortunate that all have remained
steadfastintheirdedicationtothisproject.Ioweallmycollaboratorsagreat
debtofgratitude.Theyprovedthemselvestobereceptive,creative,enthusiastic,
andpunctual(forthemostpart).
I am especially beholden to Jan Bardsleyand Janine Beichman,whowere
alwaysthereattheotherendofane-mailmessagetoofferadvice,encourage-
ment,andemotionalsupport.Thisprojectwouldnothavebeenpossiblewith-
out them. Eiji Sekine and Maryellen Toman Mori were especially helpful in
recommendingtextstotranslateandworkstoincludeinthebibliography.Al-
though theyare not contributors to this volume, I am also grateful to Livia
Monnet for herconstant kindnesses, to Janice Brown for her understanding,
andtomycolleagueNancyBergforallthedraftssheread.
AdditionallyIwouldliketothankPamelaKelleyattheUniversityofHawai‘i
Press,who did not flinch when she saw the size of the first draft, and to Bo-
janaRistich,whomanagedthecopyeditingwithamazingefficiency.Forthat
matter,aspecialthanksmustgototheanonymousreviewerswhoweresocare-
fulinreadingthatunwieldyfirstdraftandofferedthoughtfulandconstructive
preface ix