To Live and To Write: Selections by Japanese Women Writers 1913-1938

This important collection spans twenty-five years of tumult and change in Japan, a period of great political activity and blossoming feminist consciousness. Women writers emerged as major voices in the movements that swept the country and shook traditional society to its foundations. Writing on subjects still considered taboo for women - sexuality and sexual politics, poverty and class oppression - these writers described the possibilities of an independent female identity. 

Selections by nine leading women writers are presented, introduced by biographical essays written by the editor. The stories and essays are linked by historical context, but also by theme: the struggle of women to find artistic and personal freedom.