Sunday, August 10, 2008

Answer to a Maiden's Guy's Prayer

I know just about zilch about Japanese culture, so when I set out to read Mistress Oriki: Stories from a Tokyo Teahouse, I just assumed that the author, Matsutaro Kawaguchi, was a woman.

As the story unfolds, we learn that Mistress Oriki was raped by brothel-keeper, then kept as his mistress before she set herself up as his successor. Now in her 40s, she is the proprietor of a tea-room and practitioner--and vocal advocate of-- casual sex, with a specialty in one-night stands:
There's no such thing as going too far in playing around with men. Isn't keeping each fling to one night, then moving on to the next, a lot safer than losing your head over one man? What's dangerouus is going on and on with the same one. You get stuck on him, you drag him home, yu sit him down across the brazier from you--why, by that time, even you would never come back!
--Id. 7 (Royall Tyler trans. 2005)

Review the bidding: sexually available, lots of action, one night stands, no commitment. And the chances that this is written by a woman are---?

Hint: If you guessed "zero," you are close enough.

No comments: