San Antonio College Library

Ericson reviews the role of gender in classical and early modern Japanese literary traditions, examining the preeminent position of women writers in the classical canon and the virtual eclipse of women's voices prior to their reemergence in the modern era. Her assessment of recent feminist debates that shifted the terminology used to categorize writing by women leads her to an original interpretation of the origins and significance of the concept...

For the first time, this book offers an extensive comparative study of German and Japanese narratives that serve as a form of "counter-memory," in Foucault's phrase, for the two cultures. Rather than attempting to present objective or comprehensive views of history, these narratives draw upon personal memories to offer subjective, selective, and individualistic reports. They provide an alternative (or "counter-memory") to more official versions of...