The doctors wife book sawako ariyoshi. The Doctor's Wife by Sawako Ariyoshi, Wakako Hironaka (9784770029744) 2023-01-06
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'The Doctor's Wife' fictionalizes the life of Japan's pioneering anesthetist
This fictionalized account of their life together is fascinating not only from a medical standpoint but also from a cultural, which is why I'm quickly becoming a fan of Ariyoshi's books. Ariyoshi first rose to prominence in the 1950s as a writer of short stories, but has since built an impressive reputation as a novelist dealing with crucial social issues. Kae has headaches and trouble with her eyes after the first experiment and loses her eyesight completely after the second experiment. So basically Kae has admired Otsugi since she was a little girl, and was thrilled when she was invited to be her daughter-in-law. Still, what the wife and her mother-in-law endure for the love of one man and his mission to improve medical science is unfathomable.
The Doctor's Wife by Sawako Ariyoshi, Wakako Hironaka (9784770029744)
Her Kokotsu no hito The Twilight Years was published in 1972 and sold over a million copies in less than a year. In the end, though, she claims to have made a lesser sacrifice than her mother and Kae, since at least working for her brother spared her the need to marry. It's also interesting to see how developed Japanese medicine was during this period, around the beginning of the 19th century. Both mother and wife insist that he use them as subjects. Sawako Ariyoshi's The Doctor's Wife was enjoyable in that it was simply written whether that's due to Ariyoshi's writing or the way it was translated, either way it was a quick and smooth read. Ariyoshi seems to have taken great pride in rescuing Seishu's reputation from obscurity, yet she makes it clear that she sees him as a very flawed human being who owed a lot to the womenfolk in his life.
If this does not resolve the issue or you are unable to add the domains to your allowlist, please see We humbly apologize for the inconvenience. Although my feministic viewpoints would have liked the book to have focused more on the latter theme rather than the former, the book, nevertheless, accomplished its wistful purpose of showing the role of women. Brief at around 170 pages, but still felt detailed. He is a young physician with great hopes for the medical field, hoping to combine the things he learned from his own father with the Dutch way of performing surgery. But the author's writing style is awesome; the story is well told and the imagery, gut-wrenching. Kae, the wife, joins the household of the local doctor as the bride of his son, Hanaoka Seishu, who is still away pursuing his medical studies in Kyoto. Seishu discovered the tsusensan, an anesthetic.
Books: The Doctor's Wife by Sawako Ariyoshi, Ann Siller Kostant (Translator), Wakako Hironaka (9784770029744), Download eBook
Later he starts to experiment on animals to find a way to make it possible to operate without the patient feeling excruciating pain. This development was expressed powerfully at the novel's end. The second part, mostly fictional, revealed the rivalry between Otsugi, the mother-in-law, and Kae, the daughter-in-law. This story is a fictionalised account of the household of Hanaoka Seishu, the first surgeon in the world to successfully administer general anaesthesia to perform an operation. The book is an account of how Kae, Hanaoka Seishu's wife, and her mother in law played a role in developing the world's first effective anesthetic. Devastatingly for Kae, for well over a decade she doesn't produce a male offspring, which keeps her in a weak position vis-a-vis her mother-in-law. Mother and son were a little twisted about each other, I found Kae very sympathetic.
Ariyoshi is not for me. The story is mainly told from Kae's perspective, who came from an old samurai family, and therefore 'above' the doctor's family. It's so funny how Otsugi brags to Kae about bein I like the competition for Hanaoka Seishu's attention and affection between Otsugi the mother and Kae the wife. In it, the women couldn't see beyond the social roles pre-ordained for them by their relation to the doctor, which called for supporting his work and continuing the family line. Being from an anesthesiology department I was always thought it was a Dr. SAWAKO ARIYOSHI was born in 1931 in Wakayama City. It's the kind of book that seems puzzling at first read - I didn't understand any of the significance of any of the action until the last few pages.
Based on the life of the first doctor in the world to perform surgery for breast cancer, it immediately plunged me into a world of 17th century Japan. There's no momentum, and the language is serviceable at best. I think this sort of tension among females is to the advantage of every male. No one at your bookclub will talk about this book. In fact Ariyoshi gives no clues as to what goes on in Seishu's mind. The two women-the wife who struggles to adapt to a new household and gain the affection of her unfamiliar husband, and the over possessive mother-in-law dedicated to the fulfillment of her son's ambitions-vie with one another to serve one man.
And near the end, by a third character who revealed thoughts about the characters and the relation of men and women in general, expressing perhaps the author's strongest views. The last word on this comes from Seishu's sister Koriku, who delivers the following insights on her death-bed: "Don't you think men are incredible? Her books are short, not particularly lyrical, but pack a significant plotty punch, telling stories about Japanese women that you otherwise might not have heard. Another Ariyoshi under my belt, and no intentions of ever finding one to disappoint. The book however, focused on the two women in Seishu's life: his mother Otsugi and his wife Kae. This is the fictionalized story of a remarkable doctor from Wakayama prefecture, the same province where the author hails from. Definitely worth reading, if you get the chance. As the events described take place at the end of the 18th century, prior to the "opening of Japan" to the West, the book can be read as an in depth study of the mores and social dictates of traditional Japan, particularly those relating to the social status of women in general, the complex relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and the willing sacrifices made by women on behalf of their male family members.
Much of the tension in the book draws from the sustained misunderstanding between Mother and Daughter, both of whom take for granted the idea that one is trying to outdo the other. One is her mother-in-law, Otsugi, whom she initially admires and has a close relationship too, and the other one is her husband, Seishu. Thus, this novel is really two stories: on the one hand, the successful medical career of Hanaoka Seishu, the first doctor in the world to perform surgery for breast cancer under a general anesthetic; on the other hand, the lives of his wife and his mother, who supported him with stoic resignation, even to the extent of finally volunteering to be used as guinea pigs in his experiments. Don't you think men are incredible? Many of her novels have also been adapted for the stage, the cinema, and television. Why did she pursue Kae for her precious son Brief at around 170 pages, but still felt detailed.
