Eimi Yamada

Eimi Yamada ( Japanese 山田 詠 美 , Yamada Eimi , also: Yamada Amy , real name: 山田 双 葉 , Yamada Futaba ; born February 8, 1959 ) is a Japanese writer and mangaka . She is a controversial contemporary writer in Japan. Intercultural sex and intercultural marriages are the provocative themes of her works.

Life

Yamada grew up in Tokyo , but had to move frequently across Japan from high school due to her father's job changes. The accompanying experiences of separation, bullying and the longing for security are also subjects of her works. In 1977 she began studying literature at Meiji University , which she dropped out early. For a short time she worked as a mangaka and in 1981 published the manga "Sugar Bar". In the following years she turned to writing. In 1985 she presented her debut work, Beddotaimu Aizu ( Eng . "Nights with Spoon"), which was awarded the Bungei Prize. It depicts love and sex between the nightclub singer Kim and the black American GI Spoon. The result was a scandal that dragged Yamada's private life as a dominatrix and nude model in the Tokyo district of Roppongi , which is popular with foreigners, into the center of media interest.

A year later, in 1986, her manga Miss Doll ( ミ ス ・ ド ー ル , Misu Dōru ), Yokosuka Freaky ( ヨ コ ス カ フ リ リ ー キ ー , Yokosuka Furīkī ) and her novel Jesse no Sebone , who in turn had sex with an African American in New York, appeared the protagonist with an alcoholic and the lack of sense of responsibility towards an eleven-year-old child from this relationship. The short story Hizamazuite ashi o o-name ( ひ ざ ま ず い て 足 を お 舐 め , Kneel down and lick my feet , 1988) and the equally excellent novel Animal Logic are also to be assigned to the topic of sexuality . The novel broadens the view of the subject insofar as it is an African American woman who sleeps her way through the "human zoo" New York in noncommittal sex. Although the Japanese do not play a role in this novel, Yamada turns against the conventional role of the Japanese woman and mother with the moral-free and explicit representation of sexuality. Yamada's works on this topic are often associated with Ryu Murakami . In Kagirinaku Tōmei ni Chikai Blue ( Eng . "Blue lines on transparent skin"), for example, Murakami described the dissolute life of a multiracial group of young people with wild parties and drugs near an American military base.

In 1990 Yamada married the African American Graig Douglas, whom she met in 1987 and who worked at Yokota Air Base near Tokyo.

Another topic, the problems of adolescents who feel pushed into the role of outsider by bullying, is the subject of her works Hōkago no Keynote (“grades after school”), Boku wa Benkyō ga Dekinai (“I am not gifted for learning ") And Fūsō no Kyōshitsu (" classroom of aerial burial "). Pay Day! again tells of everyday life in the shadow of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 .

Awards

• 1985 Bungei Prize for Bedtime Eyes ( ベ ッ ド タ イ ム ア イ ズ , Beddotaimu Aizu , German nights with Spoon)
• 1987 Naoki Prize for Soul Music Lovers Only ( ソ ウ ル ・ ミ ュ ー ジ ッ ク ・ ラ バ ー ズ ・ オ ン リ ー , Sōru Myūjikku Rabāzu Onrī )
• 1989 Hirabayashi Taiko Literature Prize for Fūsō no Kyōshitsu ( 風 葬 の 教室 )
• 1991 Women's Literature Prize for Trash ( ト ラ ッ シ ュ , Torasshu )
• 1996 Izumi-Kyōka Literature Prize for Animal Logic ( ア ニ マ ル ・ ロ ジ ッ ク , Animaru Rojikku )
• 2000 Yomiuri literature prize for A2Z
• 2005 Tanizaki Jun'ichirō Prize for Fūmizekka ( 風味 絶佳 ), short story collection, filmed in 2006 under the title "Sugar and Spice".
• 2012 Noma Literary Prize for Gentleman ( ジェントルマン , Jentoruman )

Works (selection)

• The twilight of a child (story), in: Seductive bracken . bankruptcy book 1999. ISBN 388769077X
• 1985 Bedtime Eyes ( ベ ッ ド タ イ ム ア イ ズ , Beddotaimu Aizu )
  • "Nights with Spoon", translated by Ina Hein, Ammann Verlag 2008, ISBN 978-3250601166
• 1986 Jesse no Sebone ( ジ ェ シ ー の 背骨 , Jeshī no Sebone , "Jesse's backbone")
• 1987 Soul Music Lovers Only ( ソ ウ ル ・ ミ ュ ー ジ ッ ク ・ ラ バ ー ズ ・ ・ オ ン リ ー , Sōru Myūjikku Rabāzu Onrī ), made into a film in 1988
• 1988 Watashi wa Hen'on Dōbutsu ( 私 は 変 温 動物 , "I am a warm blooded animal ")
• 1988 Fūsō no Kyōshitsu ( 風 葬 の 教室 )
• 1989 Hōkago no Keynote ( 放 課後 の音符（キ イ ノ ー ト）, Hōkago no Kiinōto )
• 1991 Trash ( ト ラ ッ シ ュ , Torasshu )
• 1993 Boku wa Benkyō ga Dekinai ( 僕 は 勉強 が で き な い ), made into a film in 1996
• 1994 120% COOOL
• 1996 Animal Logic ( ア ニ マ ル ・ ロ ジ ッ ク , Animaru Rojikku )
• 1997 4U
• 1999 MAGNET
• 2001 Himegimi ( 姫 君 , "Princess")
• 2003 A2Z
• 2003 PAY DAY!
• 2007 Musen Yūga ( 無 銭 優雅 , "Elegance of Poverty")
• 2009 Gakumon ( 学問 )
• 2010: Tiny Stories ( タ イ ニ ー ・ ス ト ー リ ー ズ , Tainī Sutōrīzu )
• 2011: Gentleman ( ジ ェ ン ト ル マ ン , Jentoruman )
• 2013: Ashita Shinu Kamo Shirenai Jibun, Soshite Anatatachi ( 明日 死 ぬ か も し れ な い 自 分 、 そ し て あ な た た ち )
• 2016: Shugyoku no rope ( 珠玉 の 短 編 )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Yomitai! New Literature from Japan, pp. 330-334
2. ↑ Mark Jewel: Yamada Eimi (Amy). In: The Japanese Literature Home Page. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007 ; accessed on March 16, 2014 (English). 
3. ↑ 山田 詠 美 . In: デ ジ タ ル 版 日本人 名 大 辞典 + Plus at kotobank.jp. Retrieved March 15, 2014 (Japanese). 

literature

• Nadine Scherer: Yamada Eimi . In: Lisette Gebhardt (Ed.): Yomitai! New literature from Japan . EB-Verlag Dr. Brandt, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-86893-057-3 , pp. 330-334 .
• Chieko Irie Mulhern (Ed.): Japanese Woman Writers. A bio-critical source book . Greenwood Press, Westport 1994, pp. 457 ff . ( Limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed March 15, 2014]).

Web links

• Amy Yamada at JLit