One of the books that I bought during the book fair was Memoirs of a Geisha. Previously, I had read about Geishas during wiki-hopping. Wiki, as usual, offers an impartial view and attempts to get the facts straight, albeit with a "citation needed". A novel has no such qualms, and with a few "artistic liberties", can twist the story to make it more appealing, or in some cases, make it more gruesome and hence appealing in some weird sense. Memoirs of a Geisha does offer some jolts: like the deflowering/ mizuage 1 ceremony, or when the older sister blatantly quips that men arent just solely interested in the Geisha's witty conversation.
Few days ago, I watched "Without my Daughter", the anti-thesis documentary of the novel/film Not without my Daughter. As always, I observe that the viewers' comments are more interesting than the book/film/documentary itself. All commenters agree that extreme marital violence can happen anywhere in the world, and we shouldnt be biased against a particular region/ religion.
What makes Memoirs of a Geisha or Not without my Daughter interesting is that we have limited knowledge about the other culture. Unfortunately, a large part of that limited knowledge is graphic descriptions of, say, foot binding in China, or general apathy towards women's rights elsewhere in the world. Books like these corroborate our prejudices. What we overlook is the fact that Woman's suffrage in our so-called liberal world is contemporary to China abolishing foot binding. When ranting about cruelty to women elsewhere, witch burning in Salem is permanently shrouded from our memories.
Bottomline? These books make interesting reads, no doubt. But they should be taken with a pinch of salt. Afterall, those who stay in glass houses shouldnt throw stones at others.
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizuage
Few days ago, I watched "Without my Daughter", the anti-thesis documentary of the novel/film Not without my Daughter. As always, I observe that the viewers' comments are more interesting than the book/film/documentary itself. All commenters agree that extreme marital violence can happen anywhere in the world, and we shouldnt be biased against a particular region/ religion.
What makes Memoirs of a Geisha or Not without my Daughter interesting is that we have limited knowledge about the other culture. Unfortunately, a large part of that limited knowledge is graphic descriptions of, say, foot binding in China, or general apathy towards women's rights elsewhere in the world. Books like these corroborate our prejudices. What we overlook is the fact that Woman's suffrage in our so-called liberal world is contemporary to China abolishing foot binding. When ranting about cruelty to women elsewhere, witch burning in Salem is permanently shrouded from our memories.
Bottomline? These books make interesting reads, no doubt. But they should be taken with a pinch of salt. Afterall, those who stay in glass houses shouldnt throw stones at others.
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizuage
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