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Abstract

ANNE ALLISON
Memoirs of the Orient

Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha--the fictionalized memoirs of a geisha set in the Gion district of Kyoto between the 1930s and 1950s--became a bestseller in the United States immediately following publication in 1997. This essay examines two issues: what accounts for the mass popularity of Memoirs in the United States, and is either the text or the interest (in Japan/geisha) it spurs orientalist? Commonly enjoyed by fans as a "trip to an exotic land" that is also "authentic" in its (re)presentation of Japan, the book is widely read as a fantasy, the essay argues, that engages readers in a world that is enticingly other.

Marie Anchordoguy and Kevin M. Doak, Coeditors     Martha L. Walsh, Managing Editor
The Journal of Japanese Studies
University of Washington     Box 353650     Seattle, WA 98195-3650 U.S.A.
Phone 206-543-9302    Fax 206-685-0668    Email jjs@u.washington.edu