| NOTA |
(★)(Translated by Mildred Tahara)(Titulo original : 恍惚の人 [Kookotsu no hito, 1972]／ Ariyoshi´s ability to focus on social problems and to make them vividly real has won her a vast readership in her own country.／ ´The Twilight Years´, which examines the problem of caring for the elderly in a modern industrial society, caused a sensation when it was published in Japan. It tells the story of the Tachibanas, an average family living in a Tokyo suburb, who, after the sudden death of the husband´s mother, are faced with the care of his aged father, Shigezo. The task of looking after the old man falls chiefly on his daughter-in-law Akiko, who is herself a working woman. With quiet courage that often borders on desperation, she tries to support his struggle for independent survival.／ Ariyoshi charts the effects of Shigezo´s gradual decline and the events leading up to his death with a cool precision that masks deep sympathy for the plight of the aged and their relatives. By concentrating on the details of one family´s everyday life and on an ordinary housewife´s responses to often unbearable pressures, she has created a novel that, while universal in its significance, has the poignancy and emotional force of first-hand experience.／ ◆Sawako Ariyoshi was born in 1931 in Wakayama City. As a student developed a deep interest in the theater, both modern drama and traditional Kabuki, and her own plays are widely performed in Japan. Many of her novels have also been adapted for the stage, the cinema, and television.／ Ariyoshi first rose to prominence in the 1950s as a writer of short stories, but has since built an impressive reputation as a novelist dealing with crucial social issues. Among her themes have been the problems faced by women in the traditional Japanese household (´Hanaoka seishuu no tsuma,´1961, translated as ´The Doctor´s Wife´), racial segregation in the United States,(´Hishoku,´1964), and environmental pollution (´Fukugoo osen,´1975). Her´ Kookotsu no hito (The Twilight Years)´ was published in 1972 and sold over a million copies in less than a year ; and she has recently published her first mystery novel.／ Translations of her books have appeared throughout the world and include a French translation of ´The Doctor´s Wife´, which was a best-seller in France in 1981 ; ´The River Ki´ ; ´The Twilight Years´ ; and ´Her Highness Princess Kazu´, awarded the prestigious Mainichi Cultural Prize in 1979.／ Mildred Tahara is Associate Professor of Japanese Literature at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Her publications include ´Tales of Yamato (University of Hawaii Press, 1980)´ and translations of three Ariyoshi works : ´The River Ki´, ´The Twilight Years´, and ´Her Highness Princess Kazu´.) |
BASE de DATOS, Biblioteca del Centro Cultural de la Embajada de Japon
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