Women of Japan

Professor Noriko Horiguchi, Associate Professor of Modern Foreign Languages and Literature at the University of Tennessee gave a presentation today titled: “Women Adrift:  The Literature of Japan’s Imperial Body.” She introduced he new book, Women Adrift: The Literature of Japan's Imperial Body (University of Minnesota Press, 2011), which examines the lives of three modern prominent female authors, Yosana Akiko (1878–1942), Tamura Toshiko (1884–1945), and Hayashi Fumiko (1904–1951).

The themes dominating these authors’ works include mobility and poverty, among many. Professor Horiguchi discussed the reception of the works as feminine, resilient, personal, and apolitical. Depicting women who “struggle but survive,” these works focus on women living on the margins of society, abandoned by the state and elite, and are not otherwise involved in any sort of public discourse

The presentation was introduced by Professor Ayako Kano, Associate Professor of the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, and was given on October 21, 2011 in Steitler B21 at the University of Pennsylvania.

F. Miller, SAS '13