Hayashi, Fumiko

24 featured booksHayashi, Fumiko

Fumiko Hayashi (林芙美子), December 31, 1903 or 1904 (Japanese sources disagree on the birth year) - June 28, 1951) was a Japanese novelist and poet. When Hayashi was seven, her mother ran away with a manager of her common-law husband's store, and afterwards the three worked in Kyūshū as itinerant merchants. After graduating from high school in 1922, Hayashi moved to Tokyo with a lover and lived with several men until settling into marriage with the painter Rokubin Tezuka in 1926. Many of her works revolve around themes of free spirited women and troubled relationships. One of her best-known works is Hōrōki (translated into English as "Vagabond's Song" or "Vagabond's Diary") (放浪記, 1927), which was adapted into the anime Wandering Days. Another is her late novel Ukigumo (Floating Clouds, 1951), which was made into a movie by Mikio Naruse in 1955. Hayashi's work is notable as well for its feminist themes. She was later to face criticism for accepting sponsored-trips by the Japanese military government to occupied China, from where she reported positively on Japanese administration. Until the 1980s, "women's literature" (joryu bungaku) was considered a separate category from other modern Japanese literature. It was critically disparaged as popular but too sentimental. But Ericson's (1997) translations and analysis of the immensely popular Hōrōki and Suisen (Narcissus) suggest that Hayashi's appeal is rooted in the clarity with which she conveys the humanity not just of women, but also others on the underside of Japanese society. (less)

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OL1435598A

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Hayashi, Fumiko
Personal name
Hayashi, Fumiko
Source identifier
OL1435598A

Featured books

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Works in catalog

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Vagabonde
Representative edition published 2022
Open Work
Nubes flotantes
Representative edition published 2018
Open Work
Floating clouds
Representative edition published 2012
Open Work
新版　放浪記
Representative edition published 2008
Open Work
風琴と魚の町
Representative edition published 2006
Open Work
清貧の書
Representative edition published 2006
Open Work
「リラ」の女達
Representative edition published 2005
Open Work
清修館挿話
Representative edition published 2005
Open Work
小さい花
Representative edition published 2005
Open Work
谷間からの手紙
Representative edition published 2005
Open Work
幸福の彼方
Representative edition published 2005
Open Work
濡れた葦
Representative edition published 2005
Open Work
愛する人達
Representative edition published 2005
Open Work
子供たち
Representative edition published 2005
Open Work
お父さん
Representative edition published 2005
Open Work
Floating clouds
Representative edition published 2005
Open Work
Nuages flottants - Traduit du japonais par Corinne Atlan
Representative edition published 2005
Open Work
ひらめの学校
Representative edition published 2004
Open Work
落合町山川記
Representative edition published 2004
Open Work
貸家探し
Representative edition published 2004
Open Work
恋愛の微醺
Representative edition published 2004
Open Work
泣虫小僧
Representative edition published 2003
Open Work
'La cita' y otros cuentos de mujeres infieles
Representative edition published 2003
Open Work
I saw a pale horse (Aouma wo mitari)
Representative edition published 1997
Open Work