Memoirs of a Geisha was written by Arthur Golden in 1997. The novel, tells the fictional story of a geisha working in Gion, Japan, before and after World War II.
After Memoirs of a Geisha was published, Arthur Golden was sued by Mineko Iwasaki, a retired geisha he had interviewed for background information while working on the novel. Golden had agreed to keep her anonymity, if she told him about her life as a geisha. However, Golden listed Iwasaki as a source in his acknowledgments for the novel. The issue was settled in 2003 after Iwasaki was awarded an undisclosed sum of money.
Nitta Sayuri tells the story of her life as a geisha, beginning in a poor fishing village in 1929, when, as a young girl with extraordinary blue-gray eyes, she is taken from her home and sold into slavery to a well-known geisha house. We view her transformation as she learns the vigilant arts of the geisha: dance and music; wearing kimono, elaborate makeup, and hair; pouring sake to reveal just a touch of inner wrist; competing with a jealous rival for men's solicitude and the money that goes with it.
Arthur Golden went to Harvard College, where he earned a degree in art history, specializing in Japanese art. In 1980 he got an M.A. in Japanese history from Columbia University, where he also learned Mandarin Chinese. Today, he lives in Brookline, Massachusetts, with his wife and two children.
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2 comments:
This was one of my favorite novels of all time. The movie did not do it justice, at all except maybe cinematographically. (I created that word!)
Yeah I hear good things about "Memoirs..." the novel. I also haven't seen this movie, but I'm going to watch it after I've read the book.
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