Izumi Suzuki

Izumi Suzuki (鈴木いづみ, Suzuki Izumi, July 10, 1949 – February 17, 1986) was a Japanese writer and actress, known for her science fiction stories and essays on Japanese pop culture. Married to avant-garde saxophonist Kaoru Abe until his death from overdose,[1] she is also known for her association with photographer Nobuyoshi Araki.

Izumi Suzuki
鈴木いづみ
Born(1949-07-10)July 10, 1949
Itō, Shizuoka, Japan
DiedFebruary 17, 1986(1986-02-17) (aged 36)
Tokyo, Japan
NationalityJapanese
Alma materShizuoka Prefectural Itō High School
Occupations
  • Novelist
  • short story writer
  • essayist
  • actor
Years active1966–1983
SpouseKaoru Abe
Children1

Life
1968 high school graduation portrait

Suzuki was born in Itō, Shizuoka in 1949. Her father Eiji Suzuki was a reporter for the Yomiuri Shimbun. After graduating from Shizuoka Prefectural Itō High School in 1968, she worked briefly as a keypunch operator at Itō City Hall.[2]: 287  In 1969 she was selected as a runner-up for the New Writers' Award administered by the monthly literary magazine Shōsetsu Gendai and moved to Tokyo, where she found work as a hostess, nude model, and actor.[3]

Suzuki married avant-garde saxophonist Kaoru Abe in 1973, with whom she had a daughter, Azusa, in April 1976. Azusa did not come to live with Suzuki until the early 80s, however, and in the interim was raised instead by Suzuki's family in Shizuoka.[4] In 1977 Suzuki divorced Abe (though they continued to live together), and he died a year later from an accidental overdose of Bromisoval. For a time she managed to support her daughter by publishing stories in sci-fi magazines, but eventually her health deteriorated and she began receiving public assistance.

Suzuki's tumultuous marriage to Abe was the subject of Endless Waltz, a 1992 novel by Mayumi Inaba, which prompted Suzuki's orphaned daughter to sue Inaba for invasion of privacy.[5] In 1995, the novel was adapted for film by Kōji Wakamatsu, an exponent of the pink film genre who directed Suzuki in his 1970 film Violence Without a Cause.

Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki took portraits of Suzuki throughout her career. These photographs were compiled after her death in a photograph collection titled Izumi,this bad girl.[6][lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 2] Araki's portraits of Suzuki have also been used on covers of Japanese reissues of her works[7] as well as English translations of her stories.[8]

In 1986, Suzuki committed suicide at the age of thirty-six by hanging herself at home. The timing of her death is a preoccupation of "The Unfertilized Egg," a short story by Junko Hasegawa, in which the main character, Moriko, who is also thirty-six, is haunted by the fact that Suzuki, Princess Diana and Marilyn Monroe all died at the same age, before their beauty or their powers waned.[1][9][10]

Writing

In 1970, Suzuki was shortlisted for the Bungakukai Prize for New Writers, and from 1971 devoted herself to writing. In 1975, thanks to an introduction from the science fiction author Taku Mayumura, she published her first sci-fi short story, "Trial Witch," in S-F Magazine. She had initially met Mayumura when she made an appearance on the late-night television program 11PM in 1970, during which he suggested she try reading science fiction.[2]: 27 

Suzuki belongs to the "Second Generation" of science fiction writers active in the 1970s, who broke free from the influence of American science fiction and developed an irreverent style all their own. Critic and scholar Takayuki Tatsumi calls Suzuki an "originator of the 'Sf of Manners,' who makes the most of her well-developed camp sensibility."[11] SF critic Nozomi Ōmori, a translator of Ted Chiang and Rudy Rucker, has described her 1982 story "Hey, It's a Love Psychedelic!" as a forerunner of cyberpunk.[12]

The sensibility of Suzuki's science fiction has been likened to drag.[13] Her work has also drawn comparison to the writing of Octavia Butler for its prescience about advanced technologies.[14]

Acting

Although her acting career was brief, Suzuki's work was varied, and she appeared in both pink films and on stage, as a member of Tenjō Sajiki, the avant-garde theater troupe co-founded by Shūji Terayama.[15]

In 1970, she appeared in a number of pink films under the name Naomi Asaka, beginning with her debut, A Virgin at Play, as well as Violence Without a Cause, directed by Kōji Wakamatsu, and the film adaptation of George Akiyama's controversial manga Zeni Geba, which was directed by Yoshinori Wada. On stage, Suzuki was a member of the cast of Tenjō Sajiki's 1970 play 人力飛行機ソロモン The Man-powered Plane Solomon. In January 1971 the troupe presented "Izumi Suzuki's Avant-Garde Theater Week," during which they staged her plays ある種の予感 A Kind of Premonition and マリィは待っている Marie is Waiting. Later that year, she accompanied Tenjō Sajiki to Paris and Amsterdam.[2]: 288–289 

Following the 1971 feature Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets, directed by Shūji Terayama, her only film appearance appears to have been a 52-minute 16mm film called 家獣 House Beast, which was directed by Teiji Aoyama and released in 1979. The film has not been screened since the 1980s, however, and may be lost.[16]

Selected bibliography

Japanese
  • 愛するあなた The One I Love, Gendaihyōronsha, 1973
  • あたしは天使じゃない I'm No Angel, Buronzusha, 1973
  • 残酷メルヘン Cruel Fairytale, Seigashobō, 1975
  • 女と女の世の中 Within a World of Women, Hayakawa Bunko, 1978
  • いつだってティータイム Teatime Any Time, Byakuyashobō, 1978
  • 感触 Touch, Kosaido Publishing, 1980
  • 恋のサイケデリック! A Love Psychedelic, Hayakawa Bunko, 1982
  • ハートに火をつけて! だれが消す Set Your Heart on Fire, San-Ichi Shobō, 1983
  • 鈴木いづみプレミアム・コレクション Izumi Suzuki: The Premium Collection, Bunyūsha, 2006
  • 契約 鈴木いづみSF全集 Covenant: The Complete SF of Izumi Suzuki, Bunyūsha, 2014

English
  • Terminal Boredom, Verso Books, 2021 (short stories)
  • Hit Parade of Tears, Verso Books, 2023 (short stories)

Selected filmography

As Naomi Asaka
  • 処女の戯れ A Virgin at Play (Million Film) 1970
  • 売春暴行白書・性暴力を斬る White Paper on the Violation of Prostitutes: Sexual Violence (Million Film) 1970
  • 女性の性徴期 A Woman's Sexual Development (Million Film) 1970
  • 絶妙の女 The Perfect Woman (Kantō Movies) 1970
  • 情炎・女護ヶ島 Burning Passion: The Isle of Women (Kantō Movies) 1970
  • 理由なき暴行 現代性犯罪絶叫篇 Violence Without a Cause: The Scream of Modern Sex Crimes (Wakamatsu Productions) 1970

As Izumi Suzuki
  • 銭ゲバ Zeni Geba（Kindai Hōei) 1970
  • 書を捨てよ街へ出よう Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets (Art Theater Guild/Jinriki Hikōki) 1971

References
  1. Seaman, Amanda C. (April 2010). "Two for One: Pregnancy and Identity in Hasegawa Junko's "The Unfertilized Egg"". Japanese Language and Literature. 44 (1): 1-20. Retrieved 13 March 2023 – via JSTOR. Suzuki was the widow of avant-garde jazz saxophonist Abe Kaoru (who died at 29 from an overdose), and hanged herself in February 1986.
  2. Suzuki Izumi x Abe Kaoru Rabu Obu Supīdo 鈴木いづみ×阿部薫　ラブ・オブ・スピード [Izumi Suzuki x Kaoru Abe: Love of Speed]. Tokyo: Bunyūsha. 2009. ISBN 9784892570629.
  3. Izumi Suzuki 1949-1986. Tokyo: Bunyūsha. 1994. p. 227. ISBN 4892570141.
  4. Izumi Suzuki 1949-1986. Tokyo: Bunyūsha. 1994. pp. 180, 186. ISBN 4892570141.
  5. "Suzuki Izumi". The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. 7 June 2021. Archived from the original on 27 March 2022. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  6. Araki, Nobuyoshi (2002). Izumi,this bad girl. Bunyūsha. ISBN 9784892570384.
  7. 鈴木いづみ関連図書館 [Gallery of books related to Izumi Suzuki]. Museum of Izumi Suzuki (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 27 November 2021. Retrieved 23 September 2022. カバー写真　荒木経惟 [Cover Photo: Nobuyoshi Araki]
  8. Suzuki, Izumi (2021). Terminal Boredom. Verso Fiction. Credited inside back flap. ISBN 9781788739887.
  9. Hasegawa, Junko (2004). "Museiran" 無精卵 [The Unfertilized Egg]. Hatsuga 発芽 [Germination] (in Japanese). Magazine House.
  10. Hasegawa, Junko (2005). "The Unfertilized Egg". Inside and Other Short Fiction: Japanese Women by Japanese Women. Translated by Price, Philip. Kodansha International. pp. 171–202.
  11. Tatsumi, Takayuki (March 2000). "Generations and Controversies: An Overview of Japanese Science Fiction, 1957-1997". Science Fiction Studies. 27 (1): 105–114. Archived from the original on 25 February 2022. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  12. Ōmori, Nozomi (September 1996). Kaisetsu 解説 [Notes on the Stories]. Bunyūsha. Archived from the original on 17 November 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2022. Ima ni shite omoeba, kono shōsetsu ga boku ni totte no saibāpankudatta. いまにして思えば、この小説がぼくにとってのサイバーパンクだった。 [Looking back, this story is my personal ideal of cyberpunk.]
  13. Harrison, Genie (23 March 2023). "Izumi Suzuki: A Legendary Sci-Fi Writer Rediscovered". Tokyo Weekender. Archived from the original on 30 March 2023. Retrieved 31 March 2023. There is a drag-like quality to Suzuki's writing
  14. Shiota, Julia (24 September 2021). "The Social Effects of Technology in Terminal Boredom". Ploughshares. Archived from the original on 28 March 2023. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  15. Joseph, Daniel (7 April 2021). "How Izumi Suzuki Broke Science Fiction's Boys' Club". ArtReview. Archived from the original on 24 February 2022. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  16. "'Mōshū, igyō no hitobito II' tokushū no uragawa de" 「妄執、異形の人々 II」特集の裏側で [Behind the Scenes of "Delusional and Twisted Figures II" Screening]. Eiga no kuni. 9 January 2008. Archived from the original on 25 February 2022. Retrieved 23 September 2022.

Notes
  1. Published in Japanese in Japan, the book's cover displays the English words "Izumi,this bad girl." using no space after the comma and a period after "girl."
  2. The title is an allusion to "This Bad Girl" (ジス・バッド・ガール, Jisu baddo gāl), a chapter in Suzuki's novel Set Your Heart on Fire, most of the chapters of which take their names from song titles. The chapter in question is a reference to the 1968 song "This Bad Girl" by Group Sounds band The Golden Cups.

See also
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