A book review essay: ISHIMURE Michiko’s Paradise in the sea of sorrow (1972)

DUE Feb 6, minimum 700 words double-spaced

Rationale: You will write a review essay on ISHIMURE Michiko’s Paradise In the Sea of Sorrow: Our Minamata Disease (Originally published in 1972; Rev. ed. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 2003). Ishimure, a Japanese writer and a spokesperson of the Minamata protest movement, wrote a non-fiction account of the Minamata struggle in 1969 under the title of Kukai Jōdo (the original title of Paradise In the Sea of Sorrow). Livia Monnet, the translator of Kukai Jōdo into English, describes this book as a “form of resistance literature” to emphasize the role of Ishimure’s act of writing in representing multiple voices of the victims of Minamata disease. After reading parts of Paradise In the Sea of Sorrow (Intro & chapters 1, 3, & 7), write a review essay—including your thoughts on the following three questions: 1) How does the author depict the effects of industrial pollution on the everyday lives of the village people? 2) What are the socioeconomic causes of the Minamata disease? 3) In what sense can Paradise In the Sea of Sorrow be described as “resistance literature”?

Sample Solution