Half of this autobiography traces her life from the launch of Seito to the decision in 1916 to suspend publication. The February 1913 edition on the ‘Woman Question’ was judged ‘injurious to public order’, and all copies were seized. As it became more openly political, carrying translations of articles by Emma Goldman and chapters from Ellen Keys’ Love and Marriage, it became subject to official censorship. There was simultaneously a study group-the Seitokai-which had a manifesto the first article of which ran ‘The society aims to awaken women, to enable each one to manifest her unique inborn talent and to give birth to women writers of genius’ (p. Hiratsuka Raicho was the first editor of this magazine from 1911 to 1915, during which time it evolved from being concerned mainly with literary topics-albeit such topics as debates on Hedda Gabler-into a journal that was explicitly feminist. Using it as the title of their magazine they thought would therefore ‘throw down the gauntlet’ to Japanese society. Its founders felt that the term had become a pejorative for women who behaved in ‘a novel or unwomanly manner’. Seito (‘Blue Stocking’), was Japan's first feminist magazine.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |