ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the experience of modern women, Hayashi Kyoko, with penetrating sincerity and honesty, but her philosophic profundity in understanding modern life, her intellectual capacity to view her experiences in a historical and social context, and her mastery of the art of fiction render the traditional category of 'female-school literature' totally inadequate to characterize her works. 'Yellow Sand', included here, is one of the most lyrical and moving short stories to appear in recent years; it deals with the impact that being part of the colonial force had in shaping her mind. In recent years Hayashi has also probed the meanings of marriage and family. Beginning with the examination of her own marriage, which ended in divorce, she has moved on to equally painful observations of her parent's relationship with their children and with each other.
