A mature woman - Hardcover

Saiichi Maruya

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0233989463 ISBN 13: 9780233989464

Publisher: Andre Deutsch Ltd, 1995

Synopsis

The Japanese novel often reads like a diary: a daily record of a private world. A Mature Woman breaks that mold. This is a story about real life by a master of the art of serving up serious ideas in appetizing ways. The only Japanese writer to win Britain's Independent Foreign Fiction Award, Maruya was hailed by Western critics as "a comic genius" when his work was first published in English.A Mature Woman struck an immediate chord in Japan, selling almost half a million copies in its first year and going on to become a hit at the box office as well. The central character, a strong-willed single woman, works in the male-dominated environment of a major daily newspaper. One of her editorials angers a powerful supporter of the ruling political party, and the government leans on her to keep her mouth shut. Far from bowing to the pressure, the woman retaliates, calling on a network of friends and relatives, including a fellow journalist with writer's block and an actress with mysterious ties to the prime minister himself.The result is a slyly accurate picture of contemporary Japan that not only illuminates the role of women in the 1990s but cheerfully exposes bribery and coercion at the highest levels, and treats us to the kind of brilliant gossip that makes a novel hard to put down.

About this title

About the Author

Saiichi Maruya (b. 1925) was a professor of English literature before becoming a fulltime writer some twenty years ago. His Joyce research is famous, but he has also translated a number of Graham Greene's "entertainments" into Japanese. What probably most affected him as a writer, in fact, was the way the modern English novel could be serious in a light, amusing manner. His novel Singular Rebellion was thus an act of rebellion itself when it first appeared in 1972, going against the mainstream of Japan's sombre, confessional modern literature. Even so, it won the prestigious Tanizaki Prize for that year, and he has since won most other available awards, becoming one of his country's most eminent novelists.

The Translator: Dennis Keene, an English poet who lived and taught in Japan for many years, is known for his impressive translations of Mono Kita's House of Nire and Maruya's Singular Rebellion and Rain in the Wind, among other works of Japanese fiction.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

There was a screen immediately opposite the door, but beyond it Masako saw a large room, some fifty feet square or more, with, on the right, three low tables and six chairs arranged neatly about them, all upholstered in the same colour. In front of her, Shingo Tarnaru was now seated on a sofa, and indicated that she should come and join him. He smiled in a natural and welcoming way, but she noticed he also looked a little sheepish.

Masako was overwhelmed to think she hadn't met this man for well over thirty years. But this wasn't just someone who had exchanged his good looks for old age. Certainly he looked older, much older, but he had a new dignity and strength, and he was also attractive in a way that didn't come across in his photographs or on television. He had the serenity of someone watching over things, and it seemed absolutely right that he should be up in the middle of the night going through his papers. He wore corduroy trousers with a rather faded shirt, a cardigan draped over his shoulders, and his casual appearance seemed to emphasise the feeling of energy he generated, the vitality of a man at the peak of his career. His hair, she saw, was not so much white as only half grey, and she felt she ought to revise her first impression that this was an elderly man.

Tamaru gestured before him with his hand (something he always did when he wasn't quite sure what to do with a visitor) and said, pointing out the obvious:

"That's the desk I work at."

On the wall behind the desk were portraits of the emperor and empress, and to one side a tripod holding the national flag, making it all look rather like a headmaster"s study, although a headmaster"s room would not have been as large as this, of course. He then pointed to another, smaller desk in the right-hand corner.

"And that telephone there," he said, "is the hot line."

Masako gave a little gasp, although she wasn"t in the least impressed, or even interested, having no idea what a hot line was.

About this edition

• Publisher: Andre Deutsch Ltd
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0233989463
• ISBN 13: 9780233989464
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 322