An Interview with Rebecca Copeland and Melek Ortabasi

nn nnQuestion: Why a book on Meiji women writers?nn nnRebecca Copeland and Melek Ortabasi: Women writers from the post-Meiji period (i.e. after 1912) and courtly writers of the Heian period (794-1185) are well-represented in both scholarship and in translation. The gap between the two periods, however, does not mean that female authors were not active in the interim. While there were certainly fewer opportunities for women writers during the medieval and early modern periods, they nevertheless made important contributions to the history of Japanese literature. We chose to focus on the Meiji period for two reasons: first, it was a time of great revolution and innovation in the Japanese literary world; second, it is the first time in Japanese history that we see greater numbers of literary hopefuls seeking to make a living through selling their writing. It was doubly difficult for women to enter this exciting but cutthroat environment. This book came about through a strong desire to make available in English translation the works of the women who managed to do so. While there are currently two detailed studies of Meiji women writers in English (by Rebecca Copeland and Yukiko Tanaka), there were almost no full translations of any of their works, with the exceptions of Yosano Akiko and Higuchi Ichiyô. We hope that our book, which features poetry, essays, short fiction, drama, and journal writing by at least a dozen women, will do its part to close the chronological “gap” that currently exists in scholarship on literature by Japanese women and will reveal the vibrancy and rich imagination of Meiji writing women.nnQ: How did you come up with the title, which refers to the female author of The Tale of Genji?nnRC & MO: We have been surprised by the reactions we get to this title. Some have objected to it on the grounds that “there can be only one Murasaki.” They argue that we belittle both Murasaki (by suggesting others might compare to her) and the writers in our volume (by denying them their own uniqueness.) But it is important to note here that the title is not our invention. Throughout the Meiji period would-be women writers were compared to their Heian predecessors. Successful women writers were hailed as “The Modern Murasaki” or “The Meiji Shônagon.” We see this in the excerpted diary entry by Higuchi Ichiyô and also in an essay by Shimizu Shikin which we cite in our volume. In fact, Shimizu Shikin’s penname “Shikin” can be understood to mean “modern Murasaki.” When women began to appear as a writing force in the Meiji period, they had to compete with their Heian predecessors. For many the prospect of becoming a “modern Murasaki” was a contradiction in terms. The more “modern” they tried to be, the less they resembled “Murasaki” in the minds of their critics. They had to learn to write within the contradiction. Despite the objections we received, therefore, we felt the title was appropriate and meaningful. Besides, we liked the alliteration!nnQ: How does your book comment on the existing discourse regarding modernity in Japan?nnRC & MO: Most discussions of modernization in Japan characterize the period following the opening of the country to the West in the mid-nineteenth century as one of extreme social, cultural and political upheaval. While these drastic changes affected both men and women, they did so differently, a fact that is rarely dealt with in general histories. There have, of course, been excellent specialized studies in both Japanese and English on the particular challenges confronted by women of all classes during this period, but few that let contemporary women’s voices speak for themselves. While there is a general introduction and a brief introduction to each author in our book, these discussions are intended to contextualize the readings, not to determine how they are read. The Meiji women writers we have selected opine on diverse political and social issues, reflect on daily life, and muse about the future in a myriad of ways that cannot easily be boiled down to a single discourse. We believe that the strength of each individual voice in The Modern Murasaki can do much to show that “Japanese modernity” was not a homogeneous experience for all, but rather a complex negotiation between self and society for each individual.nnQ:Q: How could this book be used in the classroom?nnRC & MO: It was largely our frustration at the unavailability of appropriate translations of Meiji women writers’ works that led to our undertaking. As educators, we would like to have access to translations that reveal the diversity and depth of nineteenth-century writing in Japan. While we think that our volume will be useful to other Japanologists, we also intend it to serve as a textbook and hope to see it used in history, literature, and women’s studies classes. To make it more accessible, we bolster our translations with introductions and also provide suggestions for further reading.nn