Taeko Kono
Taeko Kōno (
Biografía
[editar]Kōno Taeko nació el 24 de febrero de 1926 en Osaka, Japón, hija de Kōno Tameji y Yone;[2] su padre Tameji tenía un negocio especializado en procedimiento de montaña.[1] De niña, tuvo una salud débil.[1] A los quince años, estalló la Guerra del Pacífico y sus años adolescentes los pasó sirviendo como estudiante trabajadora cosiendo uniformes militares en una fábrica de municiones.[3]
Después de la guerra, acabó su grado de economía en la Universidad de Mujeres (actualmente Universidad de Prefectura de la Osaka), graduándose en 1947.[2][4] Kōno comenzó a escribir sobre el nuevo sentido de la libertad y las grandes esperanzas tras la guerra.[1] Decidida a hacer una carrera por sí misma como escritora, se mudó a Tokio, en una época en la que la capital acogió a numerosos escritores y escritoras, gracias a lo cual la actividad literaria en el país asiático tuvo un resurgir. Se unió a un grupo literario dirigido por Niwa Fumio, y comenzó a dedicarse más en serio a la escritura, mientras trabajaba a tiempo completo. Después de casi una década de lucha por hacerse un lugar en el círculo literario de la ciudad, una época durante la cual padeció varios contratiempos de salud (incluyendo dos ataques de tuberculosis), en 1961 la revista literaria Shinchōsha empezó publicar sus historias, y en 1962 se le otorgó el premio Shinchōsha "Dōjin zasshi" ("Revista Coterie") por su historia "Yōji-gari" ("Caza Niño" [
Análisis literario
[editar]Kōno's writing explores how "underneath the seemingly normal routines of daily life, one may find hidden propensities for abnormal or pathological behavior", demonstrating that often "reality and fantasy are not so clearly distinguishable from each other".[1] Alternative sexual practices is a theme that permeates Kōno's's writing; sadomasochism, for example, figures in "Toddler-Hunting," and "Ants Swarm" (1964), as well as her novel Miiratori ryōkitan; and Kaiten tobira (Revolving Door, 1970) features spouse-swapping.[4] Kōno uses these themes to explore sexuality itself and the expression of identity. She combines these elements with illness, childlessness, and the absence of a husband to delve even more deeply into these topics.[5]
More specifically, her writings explore "the struggles of Japanese women to come to terms with their identity in a traditional patriarchal society".[2] Most of her female characters "reject traditional notions" of femininity and gender roles, their frustration "leads them to violent, often antisocial or sadomasochistic ways of dealing with the world".[2] For example, in "Yōjigari", or "Toddler Hunting", one of her most famous stories, she investigates one woman's dislike of children. The protagonist, Hayashi Akiko, is repulsed by little girls but obsessed by little boys—she even imagines a little boy being beaten by his father to the extent that his innards spill out. She also takes pleasure in the sadomasochistic sex she has with her adult partner. One critic has written that the story "turn[s] the myth of motherhood on its head" while another argued that Hayashi was a representation of demonic women who threatened patriarchy itself.[2] In Fui no koe (1968), which one critic has called a "modern woman's Hamlet", Kōno presents the story of Ukiko, whose dead father haunts her. His ghost instructs her to murder the people who are controlling her life. At the end of the story, it is revealed that all of these incidents are only taking place within her mind and she is "trying in her twisted way to bring meaning to her everyday relationships".[2]
Lista de obras seleccionadas
[editar]Año |
Título japonés |
Título en español |
Premios |
---|---|---|---|
"Carne con hueso" | |||
"Sangre y cáscara" | |||
"Una voz repentina" | |||
みいら |
"Cuento cruel de un cazador convertido en presa" | ||
1960 | 「 |
"Usos de una Imitadora Femenina" | |
1961 | Yōjigari (Japanese: |
"Cacería de niños" | |
1963 | Kani (Japanese: |
"Cangrejos" | Akutagawa Prize |
1967 | Saigo no toki | "Últimos momentos" | |
1969 | Fui no Koe (Japanese: |
"Una voz repentina" | Yomiuri Prize |
1971 | Hone no niku | "Carne con hueso" | |
1980 | Ichinen no bokka (Japanese: |
"Un año pastoral" | Tanizaki Prize |
Referencias
[editar]- ↑ a b c d e "Kōno Taeko", This kind of woman: ten stories by Japanese women writers, 1960-1976, Eds. and trans.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j "Taeko Kono", Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 9/12/2002.
- ↑ "Kono Taeko", The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature: From 1945 to the present, Eds.
- ↑ a b c KKo, "Kōno Taeko", Who's who in Contemporary Women's Writing, 2nd ed.
- ↑ Mark Morris, "Japan", The Oxford guide to contemporary world literature, Ed. John Sturrock (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), 281.
Traducciones al inglés
[editar]- Kōno, Taeko. Niño-Caza y Otras Historias. Trad. Lucy North. New York: New Directions, 1996. ISBN 0-8112-1391-9.