ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the experience of modern women, Sata Ineko, with penetrating sincerity and honesty, but her philosophic profundity in understanding modern life, her intellectual capacity 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. It describes a kind of religious persistence toward mode of life which could not be changed. Sata Ineko was a vital part of Japan's prewar leftist movements, movements which fought against Japan's invasion of Asian countries and domestic class oppression. Sata Ineko also participated actively in the proletarian literary movement, yet after her arrest, she submitted to the pressure to give up her political views and activities. Although she rejoined the Communist Party in 1946, several years later she was expelled. 'Memory of a Night', written after her expulsion from the party, deals candidly with the theme of wartime collaboration and her disillusionment with the party.
