Join us in store for the launch of The Dilemmas of Working Women, a new translation of Fumio Yamamoto's work. We will have translator Brian Bergstrom with us for a reading and discussion with Dr. Cecily Raynor, as well as time for questions and signing! This event is free, but space is limited, so please RSVP on TicketSource. Masks are not required, but will be provided for free at the door.
ABOUT THE BOOK
The Dilemmas of Working Women is Fumio Yamamoto’s darkly witty look at modern Japanese women who are ambivalent about their lives and jobs. In “Naked,” a woman who’s simultaneously lost her business and her husband finds that it is surprisingly comfortable to stay at home sewing stuffed animals, even if it makes her a “loser” in the eyes of society. In “Planarian,” a young woman recovering from breast cancer tells her friends and boyfriend that she would prefer to be the titular worm to organically regenerate her body. Each of these spiky women—as well as the three other protagonists in this groundbreaking work—chafes against social expectations that equate work with worth and demand women squeeze into the confining and sometimes dehumanizing role of employee in a world built by and for men.
First published in Japan in 2000, The Dilemmas of Working Women struck a nerve with Japanese readers and became a bestselling literary sensation, selling nearly half a million copies and winning the prestigious Naoki Prize in Literature. A quarter of a century later, this brilliant modern classic—available for the first time outside Asia and in English—remains deliciously funny and astonishingly relevant.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Brian Bergstrom is a lecturer and translator who has lived in Chicago, Kyoto, and Yokohama. His writing and translations have appeared in publications including Granta, Paris Review, Aperture, Lit Hub, Mechademia, Japan Forum, positions: asia critique, and The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories. He translated Erika Kobayashi’s novel Trinity, Trinity, Trinity (2022) and story collection Sunrise: Radiant Stories (2023) with Astra House, the former winning the 2022 Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission (JUSFC) Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature. His latest translations include Hotel Lucky Seven by Kōtarō Isaka and Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto by Kohei Saito (Astra House, 2024). He is currently based in Montréal, Canada.
Dr. Cecily Raynor is Chair of the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures and Associate Professor at McGill University. Her research examines how global forces shape local cultural and linguistic realities, with a focus on narratives in Latin American literature and digital culture. She is the author of a monograph on spatial practices in contemporary Latin America (Bucknell, 2021) and co-editor of Digital Encounters in Latin America (University of Toronto Press, 2023). Her current work explores how Latin American culture responds to overlapping crises of health and the environment.
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