Mariko KOIKE (1952- ), one of Japan’s most famous female novelists, has published 50 novels, from
I Cannot Run Away from You (1985) to
Anabel Lee (2022). This paper is a guide, including outlines and comments, to these novels with an introduction to Ms. KOIKE’s literature, focusing on her development as a writer chronologically and pointing out the importance and significance of her works.
Although most people have already forgotten, Mariko KOIKE made her debut in the Japanese literary world as a feminist critic in 1978, when she successfully published her bestselling
Encouragement to Become an Intellectual Wicked Woman, which was deeply influenced by the women’s lib movements in the United States. The late 1970s and early 1980s were a time in Japan when the traditional way of life for Japanese women was being overhauled and the number of sexually liberated women increased dramatically. Naturally, conservative male critics like Shoichi WATANABE (1930-2017) were so afraid of this trend that they desperately tried to protect the existing marriage system. As a result, Momoe YAMAGUCHI (1959- ), the most popular girl singer of the time retired at the age of 21 and married the seven years older actor Tomokazu MIURA in 1980, while Seiko MATSUDA (1962- ) took over YAMAGUCHI’s top position, and, as we know, has remained a popular singer despite her two divorces. Mariko KOIKE’s insistence proved to be right in a way.
Mariko KOIKE published her first novel at the age of 32, shortly after she began living together with Yoshinaga FUJITA (1950-2020), a handsome man who had spent most of his twenties in Paris, in 1984. Familiar with French love culture, Mr. FUJITA found himself on the same wavelength as Ms. KOIKE, and they defied society by not registering their marriage until they were old. Their love life brought success as novelists to both Mariko KOIKE, who became a popular horror-mystery writer with her
The Graveyard Apartment (1988) and Yoshinaga FUJITA, a popular adventure novelist with his
Iron Knight (1994) in which a Japanese hero competed with Western rivals in the 1938 International Formula Car Race.
More than a decade after they lived together, Mariko KOIKE somehow remembered her vow to be a sexually free woman and apparently started dating other men. As a result, she became a leading romance novelist who wrote a number of illicit love stories. Reading his works autobiographically, it seems clear that even FUJITA, the cool guy influenced by French culture, was disgusted with his loving wife’s sudden change. However, he continued to love Mariko so much that he let her do whatever she liked, and followed suit by starting to meet other women. Fortunately, they had the good fortune to gain a reputation as Japan’s prestigious NAOKI Prize-winning writer couple, and miraculously avoided divorce. When her loving husband died of lung cancer in 2020, Mariko KOIKE was devastated. In 2024, it looks like she may not be able to recover from this shock. Even though she is in her seventies, let us hope that her new book, probably her autobiographical novel, will upgrade that of her predecessor Chiyo UNO (1897-1996)’s or will become a female counterpart to Shintaro ISHIHARA’s autobiography
My Life as a Man (2022). In either case, she will remain a free woman with the never-dying spirit of an intellectual wicked woman.
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