Feminist Literary Classics - Volume II
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Presented here is Volume II of our Feminist Literary Classics series, featuring three more of the most important feminist novels ever written: To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, Daughter of the Samurai by Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto and My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin.
The first book in this collection is To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf's experimental and brilliant third novel. This semi-autobiographical book was hailed in its time as a breakthrough work of genius by critics and has been named by both Modern Library and Time Magazine as as one of the 100 best English language novels of the 20th century.
Next, we have A Daughter of the Samurai, the autobiographical first novel by Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto. It tells the incredible true story of a young girl born into a high-status family in Nagaoka, Japan whose father, a samurai, is stripped of his power when the feudal system in Japan collapses and his family is thrown into turmoil and uncertainty. We follow young Etsu as her arranged marriage transports her from rural Japan in the 1880's to the American midwest and back.
And finally, we present My Brilliant Career which catapulted young Miles Franklin into worldwide fame. The story centers on Sybylla Melvyn, a headstrong girl growing up in rural Australia whose family is plunged into debt by their alcoholic father. Young Sybylla's story follows her romance with suitor Harold Beecham, her forced servitude to one of her father's creditors and her attempts to become a famous writer. My Brilliant Career has long been hailed as one of the most popular and celebrated works in Australian literary history.
Each of these books is presented in its original and unabridged format.
Etsu Iganaki Sugimoto
Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto (1874-1950) was a Japanese-American autobiographer and novelist. As chronicled in this book, Etsu was born in Nagaoka in Echigo Province in Japan (which is now part of Niigata Prefecture). Her family had enjoyed premiere social status prior to Etsu's birth as her father was a high-ranking samurai official in Nagaoka. But when the Japanese feudal system broke down shortly before Etsu was born, her family's financial situation became dire. Originally destined to be a priestess, Etsu entered into an arranged marriage with a Japanese merchant living in Cincinnati, Ohio. She went so far as to attend a Methodist school in Tokyo to prepare for her life in the US and joined the Christian faith as well. In 1898, as planned, she journeyed to the US, where she married her fiancé and became mother of two daughters. After her husband's death she returned to Japan, but wanted her daughters to be educated in the United States and so once again traveled to America. Later in her life, Etsu lived in New York City, where she wrote books and articles for newspapers and magazines, all the while serving as a professor of Japanese culture and history - as well as the Japanese language - at Columbia University. Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto died in 1950.
Miles Franklin
Stella Miles Franklin (1879-1954) was born in the Australian bush. At the age of 21, she became an international publishing sensation with My Brilliant Career, which more than a century later is still regarded as an Australian classic. Novelist, journalist, nationalist, feminist, larrikin - Miles Franklin was all these and more.
More by Miles Franklin
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