Japanese Women Writers

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.

.,."belongs in every library and cultural center...will not only inform and entertain you, but can reveal a whole new sphere of writing. This unique guide opens another world to English-language readers, one long overdue for international attention."-The New Canadian, ?...belongs in every library and cultural center...will not only inform and entertain you, but can reveal a whole new sphere of writing. This unique guide opens another world to English-language readers, one long overdue for international attention.?- The New Canadian, ?Recommended for college and public libraries.?- ARBA 95, ?This fascinating book introduces 58 of Japan's women writers through essays written by leading scholars who discuss the writer's life, career and works, with special attention given to the ones whose works have been translated....a specialized reference took and one which unlocks a particularly important and interesting field.?- New Asia Review, ?This reference work is a welcome addition to the rapidly expanding interest within Japanese studies, as well as more generally, in women writers. The Japan specialist and the novice alike can enjoy these essays.?- Choice

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.