Butterfly's sisters : the Geisha in western culture / Yoko Kawaguchi.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kawaguchi, Yoko.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Geishas--History.

Geishas.

Civilization, Western.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 342 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, c2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In this fascinating and wide-ranging book, Yoko Kawaguchi explores the Western portrayal of Japanese women-and geishas in particular-from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. She argues that in the West, Japanese women have come to embody certain ideas about feminine sexuality, and she analyzes how these ideas have been expressed in diverse art forms, ranging from fiction and opera to the visual arts and music videos. Among the many works Kawaguchi discusses are the art criticism of Baudelaire and Huysmans, the opera Madama Butterfly, the sculptures of Rodin, the Broadway play Teahouse of the August Moon, and the international best seller Memoirs of a Geisha. Butterfly's Sisters also examines the impact on early twentieth-century theatre, drama, and dance theory of the performance styles of the actresses Madame Hanako and Sadayakko, both formerly geishas.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Introduction

CHAPTER ONE Were They or Weren't They? Geishas and Early Western Perceptions of the Morality of Japanese Women

CHAPTER TWO Geishas as Artefact: Artifice, Ideal Beauty and the Natural Woman

CHAPTER THREE Madame Butterfly's Antecedents: The Women of the Ports and Japanese 'Wives'

CHAPTER FOUR Hara-Kiri! Sadayakko and Madame Hanako on the Western Stage

CHAPTER FIVE From Foe to Friend: Geishas in Anglo-American Popular Culture before and after the Second World War

CHAPTER SIX Bunny-boiler or Like a Virgin: Images of the Geisha in Late Twentieth-century America

Notes

Select Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613600868

9781280571268

1280571268

9780300169461

0300169469

OCLC:

787867386