Autobiography of a Geisha (inbunden)
Format
Häftad (Paperback / softback)
Språk
Japanska
Antal sidor
216
Utgivningsdatum
2005-06-01
Upplaga
New ed
Förlag
Columbia University Press
Översättare
G G Rowley
Originalspråk
Japanese
Illustrationer
4 photos
Dimensioner
205 x 135 x 15 mm
Vikt
300 g
Antal komponenter
1
ISBN
9780231129510

Autobiography of a Geisha

Häftad,  Japanska, 2005-06-01
289
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The glamorous world of big-city geisha is familiar to many readers, but little has been written of the life of hardship and pain led by the hot-springs-resort geisha. Indentured to geisha houses by families in desperate poverty, deprived of freedom and identity, these young women lived in a world of sex for sale, unadorned by the trappings of wealth and celebrity. Sayo Masuda has written the first full-length autobiography of a former hot-springs-resort geisha. Masuda was sent to work as a nursemaid at the age of six and then was sold to a geisha house at the age of twelve. In keeping with tradition, she first worked as a servant while training in the arts of dance, song, shamisen, and drum. In 1940, aged sixteen, she made her debut as a geisha. Autobiography of a Geisha chronicles the harsh life in the geisha house from which Masuda and her "sisters" worked. They were routinely expected to engage in sex for payment, and Masuda's memoir contains a grim account of a geisha's slow death from untreated venereal disease. Upon completion of their indenture, geisha could be left with no means of making a living. Marriage sometimes meant rescue, but the best that most geisha could hope for was to become a man's mistress. Masuda also tells of her life after leaving the geisha house, painting a vivid panorama of the grinding poverty of the rural poor in wartime Japan. As she eked out an existence on the margins of Japanese society, earning money in odd jobs and hard labor-even falling in with Korean gangsters-Masuda experienced first hand the anguish and the fortitude of prostitutes, gangster mistresses, black-market traders, and abandoned mothers struggling to survive in postwar Japan. Happiness was always short-lived for Masuda, but she remained compassionate and did what she could to help others; indeed, in sharing her story, she hoped that others might not suffer as she had. Although barely able to write, her years of training in the arts of entertaining made her an accomplished storyteller, and Autobiography of a Geisha is as remarkable for its wit and humor as for its unromanticized candor. It is the superbly told tale of a woman whom fortune never favored yet never defeated.
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Fler böcker av Sayo Masuda

  • Die letzte Geisha

    Sayo Masuda

    Sayo Masuda ist erst zwölf Jahre alt, als sie an ein Geisha-Haus verkauft wird und in die brutale Welt des traditionellen japanischen Amüsements eintaucht. Hinter der Maske der ewig lächelnden Geisha verbergen sich gebrochene Existenzen: Die Ausbi...

Recensioner i media

This account shocked Japanese readers with its bitter taste of grinding poverty and its revelations about the geisha world's dark side. A comfortless portrait of the flip side of the geisha world, where one is more slave than courtesan. Kirkus Reviews At once intriguing and heartbreaking. Publishers Weekly [Masuda's] endurance of adversity is admirable, as is the down-to-earth way in which she relates her story. She is witty, realistic, and forthright about her life, and readers will admire her courage and determination. -- Marlene Y. Satter Foreword Magazine Courageously, Masuda refuses to put white makeup on the unsightly aspects of her tale, inviting readers to take a long, hard look at the unadulterated face of geisha living. Los Angeles Times Book Review As I read this autobiography I cried for the women who live their lives as geishas...Thank you, Sayo Masuda, for revealing your life to us. -- Judy Helman Woman's Day Masuda's memoir is a must-read for those interested in the lives of geishas. Booklist Originally published in Japan in the 1950's, Autobiography of a Geisha is a remarkably fresh and personal account of a life that is a far cry not only from the Eastern exoticism of [John Ball's Miss One Hundred Thousand Spring Blossoms], but also from the upscale and at least sometimes glamorous lives depicted in [Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha. Persimmon A much-needed corrective to the romantic myths spun around this profession... Superbly preserved and sensitively rendered... [Masuda's] gripping, heart-rending and humorous account is a gem, especially as it offers a view 'from below' of the untold social history of modern Japan. Times Literary Supplement Since the publication of Arthur Golden's bestselling novelMemoirs of a Geisha, there has been a spate of books that an unkind reviewer might label 'follow-ons'... While all of these speak to a greater or lesser extent of the hardships and occasional cruelties of the geisha's life, none provides as raw and unvarnished account as Sayo Masuda'sAutobiography. Monumenta Nipponica Autobiography of a Geisha is a compelling... gritty and at times bleak account, but one which is related with great pathos and humor throughout. Rowley is to be commended. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and AFrican Studies, University of London Her story is heartbreaking, but her indomitable spirit prevents it from becoming maudlin. -- Elizabeth Quinn Bust

Övrig information

Sayo Masuda died in 2008. G. G. Rowley teaches English and Japanese literature at Waseda University in Tokyo. She is the author of Yosano Akiko and The Tale of Genji.

Innehållsförteckning

Part 1: A Little Dog, Abandoned and Terrified Little Crane the nursemaid The eyes of the oxen glow in the dark I, too, had a mother Part 2: The Sunburned Novice The dream palace Geisha school I want to be a geisha, right now My four "Elder Sisters" The death of Elder Sister Takemi The hot iron The scar I learn my name Cruel rules I devote myself to art Part 3: Miss Low Gets Wise Shallow river A secret place The new novice The sleep-with-anyone geisha How to be cute and sexy Part 4: Bird in a Cage My first customer The geisha temperament Miscarriage Thou shalt not love In the party business Tip taker Tsukiko's suicide Revenge Part 5: Awakening to Love Number Two and Number Three Tricks of the love trade The witcher bewitched True love Attempted suicide Part 6: Wanderings of a Castaway No place to call home A brother's love Tears of humiliation War's end The dumpling-soup diner Part 7: A Dream for My Little Brother Beautiful eyes Peddler Street stall Gang moll Little Foundling Seven funerary laths Part 8: The Depths of Despair My little brother's suicide Return to Suwa Reunion Happy days Farewell banquet Love's anguish Happiness and unhappiness Wandering between life and death Part 9: The Road Back to Life Innocent smile Piiko the fledgling hawk Vain dreams The Prostitution Prevention Act Cats' paws