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Women have made many important contributions to Japanese literature since the Heian period (794-1192), when Murasaki Shikibu wrote her prose masterpiece, The Tale of Genji. Even earlier, though documentation is scant, women actively participated in Japanese letters as poets. This reference is a guide to the work of Japanese women writers from centuries ago to the present day. The volume includes 58 alphabetically arranged biographical and critical profiles of these women.
The book profiles women writers who are considered mainstream writers in Japan and who have attracted attention in the West, chiefly through translations of their works and critical scholarship on their writings. Each entry discusses the subject's life, career, major works, and works in English translation. A bibliography concludes each article. While most of the women are poets, novelists, or authors of classical narrative fiction, the book also includes entries for premodern diarists, modern dramatists, television script writers, and movie scenario writers. An extensive bibliography and chronology conclude the volume.
List of contents
Abutsu-ni (Nun Abutsu)
Ariyoshi-Sawako
Ben no naishi
Eifukumonin
Enchi Fumiko
Fujiwara Michitsuna's Mother
Fujiwara Shunzei's Daughter
Go-Fukakusain Nijo
Harada Yasuko
Hashida Sugako
Hayashi Fumiko
Hayashi Kyoko
Higuchi Ichiyo
Hirabayashi Taiko
Hiratsuka Raicho
Ise
Izumi Shikibu
Junii Tameko
Kanai Mieko
Koda Aya
Kometani Fumiko
Kurahashi Yumiko
Meio Masako
Miura Ayako
Miyamoto Yuriko
Mori Michiyo
Mori Reiko
Mori Yoko
Mukoda Kuniko
Murasaki Shikibu
Nakatsukasa no naishi
Nogami Yaeko
Oba Minako
Okamoto Kanoko
Ono no Komachi
Ota Yoko
Saegusa Kazuko
Sanuki no suke
Sei Shonagon
Setouchi Harumi
Shibaki Yoshiko
Shiraishi Kazuko
Sono Ayako
Sugawara Takasue's Daughter
Tamura Toshiko
Tanabe Seiko
Tanaka Sumie
Tomioka Taeko
Tsuboi Sakae
Tsumura Setsuko
Ui Einjeru
Uno Chiyo
Wada Natsuto
Yamada Eimi
Yamamoto Michiko
Yamazaki Toyoko
Yosano Akiko
Yoshida Tomoko
About the author
CHIEKO I. MULHERN is a Professor of Japanese Studies at Fukuoka Jogakuin College, and was a Professor of Japanese and Comparative Literature at the University of Illinois until 1992. She has written three books in Japanese on comparative culture, and has authored many English works on Japanese literature, media, and women.
Summary
The volume includes 58 alphabetically arranged biographical and critical profiles of these women. The book profiles women writers who are considered mainstream writers in Japan and who have attracted attention in the West, chiefly through translations of their works and critical scholarship on their writings.
