The Dancing Girl

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Dancing Girl (舞姫 Maihime) was the first published short story by the Japanese writer Mori Ogai. The story first appeared in Kokumin no Tomo (国民之友) in 1890, and is based on Mori's own experiences as a medical student in Germany. In some ways, this tale foreshadows Puccini's Madama Butterfly, which deals with a similar theme but with a slight role reversal: in Madama Butterfly, a Western man abandons a Japanese woman, while in The Dancing Girl it is a Japanese man who leaves a Western woman.

[edit] Plot

The story is the account of the star-crossed romance between a German dancing girl and the protagonist, a Japanese exchange student who must choose between his career and his feelings for the dancer. The Japanese student eventually choses his career, sending the dancing girl into a nervous breakdown.