Memoirs of a Geisha is a 1997 history fiction novel by Arthur Golden, which centers around the experiences of a celebrated Geisha as she grows from a girl from a small fisher village to the glamorous world of Kyoto. Although written as an auto-biographical novel, the novel is fictionalized version of the life of a Geisha and has been criticized for several inaccuracies associated with Japanese culture.
This novel can be considered as a rags-to-riches story and one can draw a parallel with Cinderella, where after a chance encounter with the prince, the princess is searched for by the prince with a minor detail about the princess. The story also follows the period of World War II, and how Japan was affected by the War.
Memoirs of a Geisha follows Chiyo, who comes from a small fisher village and is later sold to an Okiya to become a Geisha. What is noteworthy here is that her sister is sold to a brothel, and this distinction is simply made due to the difference in their facial features. Her sister later escapes the brothel while Chiyo suffers from an accident that leads the Okiya owner to decide against an investment in her as a Geisha. We get an antagonist in Hatsumomo, another beautiful but reckless and jealous Geisha, allies in the Chairman and Mameha.
The novel, though having many strong female characters, does not cater much to feminist attitudes due to the propagation of beliefs that a married woman is for conceiving children and taking care of the household while a Geisha is for carnal pleasure. The women are mostly controlled against their wishes and as we learn through the book were sold into the business in the first place.
The novel follows a very formulaic approach of a plot with the rags-to-riches story. The novel also garnered a lot of criticism for naming certain persons against their wish in the acknowledgements. The book also faced criticism for cultivating a stereotype for Japanese culture. The book describes Geisha as an artistic and celebrated prostitute, but actual Geisha are not prostitute. The stereotype was spread during World War II when prostitutes called themselves Geisha to attract American soldiers, but enough sources who were interviewed for the book have denied this.
