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.

抄録全体を表示

The main purpose of this paper is to survey new topics in 8 English Reading textbooks authorized in 2007 by the Ministry of Education in Japan. It cannot be denied that each textbook obtains its own character, but it is surprising that every textbook has very similar topics. Generally, it consists of the following 7 common kinds of themes: 1) world peace, 2) environmental problems, 3) physically challenged people, 4) foreign countries, 5) English, 6) science, 7) literature. Probably because the nation experienced the sheer misery and was completely defeated in the Second World War, the government of Japan seems to expect the people, especially, the young students, to study and appreciate the value of world peace and human rights, both of which are believed to have been gained after the war. Japanese authors of the English textbooks, who are mostly university professors understanding the national policy, are also eager to realize the ideal world without war, poverty and any sort of discrimination. Perhaps their attitudes are not wrong in the least; but are they really right in choosing topics for the students who want to learn English? Is there any possibility of the authorized textbooks preventing Japanese students of English from enjoying learning the foreign language at school? The students wanting to be able to use English do not always want to become such moral cosmopolitans as the Ministry of Education has expected them to be. It is too rude to call the authorized English textbooks boring. On the contrary, some stories are really good. Despite the moral lessons, they are definitely worth reading. For example, Bethany Hamilton in “Soul Surfer,” or Christina Santhouse in “Life with Half a Brain” might move the students even to tears. “The Fall of Freddie the Leaf” will help the students think about their own life. Yet the textbooks with one exception lack in laughter. The Ministry of Education as well as the textbook authors should change their too serious views on ideal English textbooks as soon as possible, and encourage the students to much more enjoy studying English with some good, humorous stories.

抄録全体を表示