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Be a Woman: Hayashi Fumiko and Modern Japanese Women's Literature. By JOAN E. ERICSON. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997. xv, 273 pp. $24.00.
Why has Hayashi Fumiko (1903-1951), a prolific writer who enjoyed acclaim throughout much of her career, been relegated to the margins of the Japanese literary canon? Why has Diary of a Vagabond (Horoki), her 1930s novella that some consider "the best known and most popular modern work by a woman" (p. 57), not received more critical attention? In this impressive study, Joan E. Ericson argues that the blame lies in a modern penchant for categorizing most women writers, no matter how diverse, as practitioners of joryu bungaku (women's literature), and therefore, as less worthy of attention than serious (men) writers. By systematically reconstructing the history of the rubric joryu bungaku, and examining its effect on the reception of Hayashi's writing, and by translating two of Hayashi's most famous works, Ericson makes an excellent case for a reappraisal of this author's contributions. In so doing, however, Ericson steers clear of contemporary literary theory and questions the practice of examining women's writing apart from men's. Given that this book will surely be read in light of feminist criticism and in women's studies courses, Ericson's stance should foster a lively debate.
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