The Dilemmas of Working Women: Stories, (Paperback)

<p><strong>"Now offered in translation for the first time, this collection featuring women navigating societal expectations (and their small rebellions) is a classic." -- <em>Boston Globe</em></strong></p><p><strong>A spiky, edgy collection of five sly yet sensitive stories spotlighting clear-eyed and "difficult" women who are navigating their identities as workers and women in contemporary Japan--a feminist, anti-capitalist modern classic published outside Asia and in English for the first time.</strong></p><p><em>The Dilemmas of Working Women</em> is Fumio Yamamoto's darkly witty look at modern Japanese women who are ambivalent about their lives and jobs. In "Naked," a woman who's simultaneously lost her business and her husband finds that it is surprisingly comfortable to stay at home sewing stuffed animals, even if it makes her a "loser" in the eyes of society. In "Planarian," a young woman recovering from breast cancer tells her friends and boyfriend that she would prefer to be the titular worm to organically regenerate her body. Each of these spiky women--as well as the three other protagonists in this groundbreaking work--chafes against social expectations that equate work with worth and demand women squeeze into the confining and sometimes dehumanizing role of employee in a world built by and for men.</p><p>First published in Japan in 2000, <em>The Dilemmas of Working Women</em> struck a nerve with Japanese readers and became a bestselling literary sensation, selling nearly half a million copies and winning the prestigious Naoki Prize in Literature. A quarter of a century later, this brilliant modern classic--available for the first time outside Asia and in English--remains deliciously funny and astonishingly relevant.</p><p>Translated from the Japanese by Brian Bergstrom</p>

• The Dilemmas of Working Women: Stories, (Paperback)
• Author: Fumio Yamamoto
• ISBN: 9780063423619
• Format: Paperback
• Publication Date: 2026-08-11
• Page Count: 288