The Modern Murasaki: Writing by Women of Meiji Japan / Edition 1

by Rebecca Copeland, Melek Ortabasi , Ph.D.

Overview

The first anthology of its kind, The Modern Murasaki brings the vibrancy and rich imagination of women's writing from the Meiji period to English-language readers. Along with traditional prose, the editors have chosen and carefully translated short stories, plays, poetry, speeches, essays, and personal journal entries. Selected readings include writings by the public speaker Kishida Toshiko, the dramatist Hasegawa Shigure, the short-fiction writer Shimizu Shikin, the political writer Tamura Toshiko, and the novelists Miyake Kaho, Higuchi Ichiyo, Tazawa Inabune, Kitada Usurai, Nogami Yaeko, and Mizuno Senko. The volume also includes a thorough introduction to each reading, an extensive index listing historical, social, and literary concepts, and a comprehensive guide to further research.

The fierce tenor and bold content of these texts refute the popular belief that women of this era were passive and silent. A vital addition to courses in women's studies and Japanese literature and history, The Modern Murasaki is a singular resource for students and scholars.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231137751
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	11/14/2006
Series:	Asia Perspectives: History, Society, and Culture
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	424
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Rebecca Copeland is professor of Japanese literature at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Her many books include The Sounds of the Wind: The Life and Works of Uno Chiyo and Lost Leaves: Women Writers of Meiji Japan.Melek Ortabasi is assistant professor of comparative literature and Japanese at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. Her research interests include Meiji women writers, Japanese folklore studies, film and popular culture, and translation theory. Currently she is working on a monograph about native ethnologist Yanagita Kunio

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction: Meiji Women Writers, by Rebecca L. Copeland
Meiji Women's Poetry, by Laurel Rasplica Rodd
Selected Poems by Meiji Women
Kishida Toshiko (1863-1901), by Rebecca L. Copeland and Aiko Okamoto MacPhail
Daughters in Boxes
Miyake Kaho (1868-1944), by Rebecca L. Copeland
Warbler in the Grove
Higuchi Ichiyo (1872-1896), by Kyoko Omori
Higuchi Ichiyo's Journal Entries
Tazawa Inabune (1874-1896), by Melek Ortabasi
The Temple of Godai
Kitada Usurai (1876-1900), by Melek Ortabasi
Wretched Sights
Hiding the Gray
Shimizu Shikin (1868-1933), by Rebecca Jennison
How Determined Are Today's Women Students?
The Broken Ring
School for Emigrés
Hasegawa Shigure (1879-1941), by Carole Cavanaugh
Wavering Traces
Nogami Yaeko (1885-1985), by Eleanor J. Hogan
Persimmon Sweets
Mizuno Senko (1888-1919), by Barbara Hartley
For More Than Forty Days
Tamura Toshiko (1884-1945), by Edward Fowler
Lifeblood
The Vow
Further Reading
Contributors
Indexv

What People are Saying About This

Sally Hastings

This volume is a valuable contribution to the field of Japanese studies. The selections are excellent, as is the quality of the translation. Although the editors and authors are scholars of literature, they have selected for translation the very texts that historians would most like to see. These translations are the opening wedge that allows us to think beyond the stereotypical images of women in Meiji Japan.

— Sally Hastings, associate professor of history and chair, Asian Studies Program, Purdue University

Jan Bardsley

The Modern Murasaki ensures that future discussions of Meiji literature in the English-speaking world cannot ignore the presence of women writers and readers. The volume's accessible style and the liveliness of the translations will win readers with a general interest in Japan or, more broadly, in women's writing in Asia.

— Jan Bardsley, associate professor of Japanese humanities, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Editorial Reviews

An invaluable source of inspiration.

Monumenta Nipponica - Reiko Abe Auestad

[The Modern Murasaki] will be of considerable value... Highly recommended.

Choice

An invaluable source of inspiration.

— Reiko Abe Auestad

Monumenta Nipponica