Orientalizing Japanese Culture as the ‘Other’ in Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha

Abstract

The thesis,with the scrupulous illustration of many stereotypical images prevailing in the text, attempts to reveal whether the text holds the evidences enough to support the hypothesis assumed by the present study. The text consists of many evidences which clarify that Arthur Golden is an Orientalist who values Western norms over Eastern one. Indeed, the writer has used the aforementioned images to create a negative portrayal of Japanese geisha culture by accepting the mainstream Western culture as ‘self’. Being a Western writer, it is his instinct that forces him to define mainstream American in a positive light as the civilized, rational, advanced and modern, whereas Japanese in a negative aspect as uncivilized, backward and traditional. Presenting himself the Western devotee he claims his work to be historical though there are several exaggerations about Japan and Japanese culture and customs. The reason for this is none other than pleasing Western readers who always hunt for Easterner’s mockery and damnation. Certainly, Golden has not written this novel to depict Japanese reality, but rather to present Japan and Japanese culture as inferior, exotic and ‘other’ so that they could feel proud to be Americans which provide a good license to impose their hegemony over the Japanese culture.