Acting Like a Woman in Modern Japan: Theater, Gender and Nationalism

Weaving together careful readings of plays and reviews, memoirs and interviews, biographies, and critical essays, Acting Like a Woman in Modern Japan traces the emergence of the first generation of modern actresses in Japan, a nation in which male actors had long dominated the public stage. What emerges is a colorful and complex picture of modern Japanese gender, theater, and nationhood. Using the lives and careers of two dominant actresses from the Meiji and Taisho eras, Ayako Kano reveals the fantasies, fears, and impact that women on stage created in Japan as it entered the 20th century.

Author: A. Kano
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Published: 10/29/2001
Pages: 322
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.36lbs
Size: 9.02h x 5.98w x 0.75d
ISBN: 9780312239978

About the Author
AYAKO KANO is Assistant Professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where she teaches courses on Japanese theater, literature, and gender studies. She received her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Cornell University. She is currently at work on a book about Japanese feminist debates.