Ask the Author: G.G. Rowley
Answered Questions (3)
G.G. Rowley
Good to hear from you Peter! I'm fine: just got back to Japan after a month in Australia, visiting family and avoiding the worst of the heat here. Do hope all is well with you too.
All best,
Gaye
All best,
Gaye
G.G. Rowley
A very Happy New Year to you, too, Sanaz! And thank you for your great question. Strange as it may seem, there are probably more collections of short stories by Japanese women writers available in English translation than in the original Japanese--at least a dozen by my count. In chronological order beginning with the Meiji period, here's my top ten:
1. The Modern Murasaki: Writing by Women of Meiji Japan, ed. Rebecca L. Copeland and Melek Ortabasi. Columbia University Press, 2006.
2. The Bluestockings of Japan: New Woman Essays and Fiction from Seitō, 1911-1916, trans. Jan Bardsley. Center for Japanese Studies, The University of Michigan, 2007.
3. To Live and to Write: Selections by Japanese Women Writers, 1913-1938, trans. Yukiko Tanaka. Seattle: Seal Press, 1987.
4. Reflections on the Way to the Gallows: Rebel Women in Prewar Japan, trans. Mikiso Hane. University of California Press and Pantheon Books, 1988.
5. Japanese Women Writers: Twentieth Century Short Fiction, trans. Noriko Mizuta Lippit and Kyoko Iriye Selden. Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, 1982, 1991.
6. More Stories by Japanese Women Writers: An Anthology, ed. Kyoko Selden and Noriko Mizuta. Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, 2011.
7. Rabbits, Crabs, Etc.: Stories by Japanese Women, trans. Phyllis Birnbaum. University of Hawai’i Press, 1982.
8. This Kind of Woman: Ten Stories by Japanese Women Writers, 1960-1976, trans. Yukiko Tanaka and Elizabeth Hansen. Stanford University Press, 1982.
9. Unmapped Territories: New Women’s Fiction from Japan, trans. Yukiko Tanaka. Seattle: Women in Translation, 1991.
10. Woman Critiqued: Translated Essays on Japanese Women’s Writing, ed. Rebecca L. Copeland. University of Hawai’i Press, 2006.
If you're interested in a particular writer, do let me know and I'll see what I can find for you!
1. The Modern Murasaki: Writing by Women of Meiji Japan, ed. Rebecca L. Copeland and Melek Ortabasi. Columbia University Press, 2006.
2. The Bluestockings of Japan: New Woman Essays and Fiction from Seitō, 1911-1916, trans. Jan Bardsley. Center for Japanese Studies, The University of Michigan, 2007.
3. To Live and to Write: Selections by Japanese Women Writers, 1913-1938, trans. Yukiko Tanaka. Seattle: Seal Press, 1987.
4. Reflections on the Way to the Gallows: Rebel Women in Prewar Japan, trans. Mikiso Hane. University of California Press and Pantheon Books, 1988.
5. Japanese Women Writers: Twentieth Century Short Fiction, trans. Noriko Mizuta Lippit and Kyoko Iriye Selden. Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, 1982, 1991.
6. More Stories by Japanese Women Writers: An Anthology, ed. Kyoko Selden and Noriko Mizuta. Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, 2011.
7. Rabbits, Crabs, Etc.: Stories by Japanese Women, trans. Phyllis Birnbaum. University of Hawai’i Press, 1982.
8. This Kind of Woman: Ten Stories by Japanese Women Writers, 1960-1976, trans. Yukiko Tanaka and Elizabeth Hansen. Stanford University Press, 1982.
9. Unmapped Territories: New Women’s Fiction from Japan, trans. Yukiko Tanaka. Seattle: Women in Translation, 1991.
10. Woman Critiqued: Translated Essays on Japanese Women’s Writing, ed. Rebecca L. Copeland. University of Hawai’i Press, 2006.
If you're interested in a particular writer, do let me know and I'll see what I can find for you!
G.G. Rowley
Dear Sanaz,
Thank you for your message. I'm delighted you find the two bibliographies helpful: that's why I created them. (And also, I confess, because I like making lists!) No, I hadn't considered making a list of English-language scholarship about Yosano Akiko--but now that you've mentioned it, I may do so!
At present, the fullest list of western-language scholarship on and translations of Yosano Akiko appears in Janine Beichman's wonderful biography, Embracing the Firebird: Yosano Akiko and the Birth of the Female Voice in Modern Japanese Poetry (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2002), pp. 323-324.
Thank you for your message. I'm delighted you find the two bibliographies helpful: that's why I created them. (And also, I confess, because I like making lists!) No, I hadn't considered making a list of English-language scholarship about Yosano Akiko--but now that you've mentioned it, I may do so!
At present, the fullest list of western-language scholarship on and translations of Yosano Akiko appears in Janine Beichman's wonderful biography, Embracing the Firebird: Yosano Akiko and the Birth of the Female Voice in Modern Japanese Poetry (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2002), pp. 323-324.
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