Overview

By providing a meditative overview of the past twenty years in the political study and teaching of literature, Where We're Bound assesses the concrete contributions of the sixties and the kind of changes that needed to come about to institutionalize the activism of this period. Twenty years ago, Louis Kampf and Paul Lauter published their groundbreaking anthology, Politics of Literature. It was the first book, born out of the sixties, to integrate the political insights of the New Left into the practice of literary criticism. Keenly aware of the politics and criticism since the sixties, Davis and Mirabella have produced a successor to the earlier volume. This work includes essays by both Kampf and Lauter, as well as by such well known scholars as Gerald Graff, Richard Ohmann, Catherine R. Stimpson, and writers, including Tillie Olsen.The authors survey various politicized realms of literary study - leftist, feminist, black, chicano, and others. While contributing to the ongoing debate about literary theory, Where We're Bound comes out of a tradition of political activism and also addresses itself to practical politics. It thus provides an important link between the radical politics of the sixties and the intellectual activities of radicals who study literature now, or will study it in the future.

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Reviews

This account shocked Japanese readers with its bitter taste of grinding poverty and its revelations about the geisha world's dark side. A comfortless portrait of the flip side of the geisha world, where one is more slave than courtesan. -- Kirkus Reviews At once intriguing and heartbreaking. -- Publishers Weekly [Masuda's] endurance of adversity is admirable, as is the down-to-earth way in which she relates her story. She is witty, realistic, and forthright about her life, and readers will admire her courage and determination. -- Marlene Y. Satter, Foreword Magazine Courageously, Masuda refuses to put white makeup on the unsightly aspects of her tale, inviting readers to take a long, hard look at the unadulterated face of geisha living. -- Los Angeles Times Book Review As I read this autobiography I cried for the women who live their lives as geishas...Thank you, Sayo Masuda, for revealing your life to us. -- Judy Helman, Woman's Day Masuda's memoir is a must-read for those interested in the lives of geishas. -- Booklist Originally published in Japan in the 1950's, Autobiography of a Geisha is a remarkably fresh and personal account of a life that is a far cry not only from the Eastern exoticism of [John Ball's Miss One Hundred Thousand Spring Blossoms], but also from the upscale and at least sometimes glamorous lives depicted in [Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha. -- Persimmon A much-needed corrective to the romantic myths spun around this profession... Superbly preserved and sensitively rendered... [Masuda's] gripping, heart-rending and humorous account is a gem, especially as it offers a view 'from below' of the untold social history of modern Japan. -- Times Literary Supplement Since the publication of Arthur Golden's bestselling novel Memoirs of a Geisha, there has been a spate of books that an unkind reviewer might label 'follow-ons'... While all of these speak to a greater or lesser extent of the hardships and occasional cruelties of the geisha's life, none provides as raw and unvarnished account as Sayo Masuda's Autobiography. -- Monumenta Nipponica Autobiography of a Geisha is a compelling... gritty and at times bleak account, but one which is related with great pathos and humor throughout. Rowley is to be commended. -- Bulletin of the School of Oriental and AFrican Studies, University of London Her story is heartbreaking, but her indomitable spirit prevents it from becoming maudlin. -- Elizabeth Quinn, Bust

Author Information

Lennard J. Davis is an Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and is the author of several books, including Factual Fictions: The Origins of The English Novel (published by Columbia University Press). M. Bella Mirabella is an Associate Professor at the Gallatin Division of New York University and has written widely on dance and drama.

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