| NOTA |
(*)(石牟礼道子、translated by Livia Monnet) (★)(1.´Paradise in the Sea of Sorrow : Our Minamata Disease´ [Kugai joodo : Waga Minamata-byoo、苦海浄土 わが水俣病] is a chronicle of the early history of Minamata Disease which has become a classic of contemporary Japanese literature. Part imaginative biography, part mystical confession, part investigative journalism and part historical document, ´Kugai joodo´ transcends established literary genres to create a new form. What has become known as Minamata Disease is a neurological disorder caused by poisoning which occurred by ingestion of fish and shellfish polluted by methylmercury. The source of the poisoning was Chisso Corporation´s Minamata plant, which discharged highly toxic wastewater from its production of acetaldehyde into the Shiranui [Yatsushiro] Sea in western Kyushu from 1932 to 1968. This wastewater contained not only methylmercury but also poisonous metals such as thallium and manganese. Though published twenty years ago at the height of the Japanese anti-pollution struggle, Kugai joodo still speaks to us with an urgency and power we cannot ignore. Its popularity in Japan is attested to by numerous adaptations in various media and genres, ranging from TV documentaries and Noh-style dramas to musical compositions. 2.Ishimure Michiko is best known in Japan for her trilogy ´Kugai joodo [Paradise in the Sea of Sorrow], Part I published in 1969, Part III in 1974, Part II still unfinished´, which tells the story of Minamata Disease from its discovery in 1956 to the verdict in the first trial concerning the Disease in 1973, and for her leading role in the Minamata movement. A recipient of national and international awards such as the Philippines´ Ramon Magsaysay Prize, Ishimure is also the author of two beautiful childhood memoirs,´Tsubaki no umi no ki [Story of the Sea of Camellias, 1976]´ and ´Ayatori no ki [Cat´s Cradle, 1983]´, and a novel,´Oen yugyoo [Oen´s Travels, 1984]´ exploring women´s shamanistic and prophetic powers. Like many of Ishimure´s essays, especially those collected in ´Hi no kanashimi [The Sadness of the Sun, 1986]´ and ´Chichi no Shio [The Milk from the Breast of the Sea, 1988]´ these works show a powerful feminist commitment. The strength of Ishimure´s prose lies in her unique poetic imagination and above all in her transformation of the Minamata and Amakusa dialects into a new, beautifully lyrical poetic idiom.) |
BASE de DATOS, Biblioteca del Centro Cultural de la Embajada de Japon
Print Page