Book· 1997· Historical

Memoirs of a Geisha

by Arthur Golden

Memoirs of a Geisha: 1 recorded work traces back to it.

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What Memoirs of a Geisha influenced

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Memoirs of a Geisha

Film · 2005

AdaptationHIGH

Rob Marshall's film of Arthur Golden's novel, produced by Spielberg, who had been attached to direct. Faithful in plot: Chiyo sold to an okiya, the rivalry with Hatsumomo, Mameha's tutelage, the mizuage, the Chairman. The novel's own sourcing is contested and that belongs on the record. Mineko Iwasaki, the retired geiko Golden interviewed, sued him for breach of confidence after he named her in the acknowledgements, and later wrote her own account to correct his. The film inherits her objections along with the story.

About the work

Memoirs of a Geisha

The novel, told in first person perspective, tells the story of Nitta Sayuri and the many trials she faces on the path to becoming and working as a geisha in Gion, Japan, before, during and after World War II.