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(★)(津島佑子, Translated by Geraldine Harcourt)(Titulo original : Chooji [寵児, 1978]／ By conventional Japanese standards, Kooko Mizuno is an abysmal failure as woman, wife, and mother -and she couldn´t care less. She has succeeded in remaining true to herself in a stubborn struggle against powerful conformist pressures. Yet her resistance is largely passive.／ Self-absorbed, indecisive, she makes her own uncharted way through life, letting her husband, lovers, even her only daughter, gradually slip away.／ Signs that she is pregnant after a casual affair rouse her to make decisions. Then a deeply ironic turn of events thrust her into the cold light of a reluctant self-knowledge.／ Through layer upon layer of dreams, memories, defenses, and delusions, she emerges finally to take a conscious step toward the independence she cannot yet define, certain only that she herself has changed.／ In ´Child of Fortune´, Yuko Tsushima has brought to life a woman whose psychological complexity reflects the meeting of Japanese fiction and women´s changing consciousness. The depths of inner conflict are illuminated here by radiant imagery, wry humor, and a sharp clarity of vision. While drawing on the ´I-novel´ tradition that has dominated modern Japanese literature, the author integrates the autobiographical elements into a fully realized fictional work of penetrating social insight. The novel received the 1978 Women´s Literature Prize, one of many awards that have spotlighted Yuko Tsushima as a writer of exceptional gifts.／ ◆Yuko Tsushima was born in 1947, the daughter of novelist Osamu Dazai, author of ´The Setting Sun´ and ´No Longer Human´, who commited suicide in 1948. While still in her senior year at university she published her first short story, and her reputation as one of Japan´s most remarkable young writers is based largely on works of short fiction. Nine volumes of her short stories have appeared to date ; they include ´Mugura no Haha [1974]´,´Waga Chichitachi [1975]´,´´Kusa no Fushido [1977]´,´Hikari no Ryoobun [1979]´, and ´Suifu [1982]´. In addition, she has published three full-length novels -´Chooji [1978]´,´Moeru Kaze [1980]´, and ´Yama o Hashiru Onna´. Both ´Chooji´ and ´Yama o Hashiru Onna [1980]´ were awarded major literary prizes. Yuko Tsushima lives in Tokyo with her two children.) |
BASE de DATOS, Biblioteca del Centro Cultural de la Embajada de Japon
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