Ayako Sono

Ayako Sono

Ayako Sono in 1956
Born September 17, 1931
Katsushika, Tokyo, Japan
Education University of the Sacred Heart
Notable works Tamayura (たまゆら)
Enrai no kyaku tachi (遠来の客たち)

Ayako Sono (曽野 綾子 or 曾野 綾子 Sono Ayako, born September 17, 1931 in Tokyo) is a Japanese Catholic writer.[1]

She went to the Catholic Sacred Heart School in Tokyo after elementary school.[1] During World War II, she evacuated to Kanazawa. After writing for the fanzines La Mancha and Shin-Shicho (新思潮: "New Thought"),[2] she was recommended by Masao Yamakawa, an established critic at the time, to Mita Bungaku, for which she wrote Enrai No Kyaku Tachi (遠来の客たち: "Visitors from Afar"), one of the shortlisted stories for the Akutagawa Prize in 1954.[1] In 1953, she married Shumon Miura (三浦 朱門), one of the members of Shin-Shicho.[1]

The naming of The Bas Bleu Era (才女時代: Saijo-Jidai) by the writer and critic Yoshimi Usui famously described the prosperous activities of female writers including Sono or Sawako Ariyoshi—one of her contemporary who had published many reputable books that are still being read.

In the history of Japanese literature, Sono belongs to the category of "the Third Generation" together with Shūsaku Endō, Shōtarō Yasuoka, Junnosuke Yoshiyuki, Nobuo Kojima, Junzo Shono, Keitaro Kondo, Hiroyuki Agawa, Shumon Miura, Tan Onuma, and Toshio Shimao.

Sono drew criticism for a column she wrote in the Sankei Shimbun in February 2015 in which she advocated immigrants to Japan be separated by race and made to live in special zones.[3][4]

Works

Novels

Her major novels include

Sono on her wedding day, October 1953

Short stories

Essays

Political and social activities

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Schierbeck, Sachiko Shibata; Edelstein, Marlene R. (1994). Japanese women novelists in the 20th century: 104 biographies, 1900-1993. Museum Tusculanum Press. p. 132. ISBN 87-7289-268-4.
  2. Mulhern, Chieko Irie (1994). Japanese women writers: a bio-critical sourcebook. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 369. ISBN 0-313-25486-9.
  3. Yuka Hayashi. "Author Causes Row With Remarks on Immigration, Segregation". WSJ. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  4. "Japan PM ex-adviser praises apartheid in embarrassment for Abe". Reuters. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  5. "Satogashi ga kowareru toki (1967) - IMDb". IMDb. 10 June 1967. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  6. 6.0 6.1 Johnston, Eric (February 12, 2015). "Author Sono calls for racial segregation in op-ed piece". The Japan Times. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  7. "Ayako Sono resigned from a education reform panel" (in Japanese). Sankei Shimbun. December 2, 2013.
  8. "Matahara: turning the clock back on women's rights - The Japan Times". The Japan Times. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  9. (Japanese)
  10. "Author Sono calls for racial segregation in op-ed piece". The Japan Times. Retrieved 21 February 2015.

External links