Izumi Suzuki | |
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鈴木いづみ | |
 Suzuki's 1968 high school graduation portrait | |
| Born | (1949-07-10)July 10, 1949 Itō, Shizuoka, Japan |
| Died | February 17, 1986(1986-02-17) (aged 36) Tokyo, Japan |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Alma mater | Shizuoka Prefectural Itō High School |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1966–1983 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
Izumi Suzuki (鈴木いづみ,Suzuki Izumi, July 10, 1949 – February 17, 1986) was a Japanese writer and actress, known for herscience fiction stories and essays on Japanese pop culture. Married to avant-garde saxophonistKaoru Abe from 1973 to 1977,[1] she is also known for her association with photographerNobuyoshi Araki.
Suzuki was born inItō,Shizuoka in 1949. Her father Eiji Suzuki was a reporter for theYomiuri Shimbun. After graduating from Shizuoka Prefectural Itō High School in 1968, she worked briefly as akeypunch 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 magazineShōsetsu Gendai and moved to Tokyo, where she found work as a hostess, nude model, and actress.[3]: 227
In 1973, Suzuki married avant-garde saxophonistKaoru Abe, by 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.[3]: 180, 186 In 1977 Suzuki divorced Abe (though they continued to live together); he died a year later from an accidental overdose ofBromisoval. For a time she managed to support her daughter by publishing stories in sci-fi magazines, but eventually her health deteriorated[how?] and she began receiving public assistance.
In February 1986, at the age of thirty-six, Suzuki committed suicide by hanging herself at home, orphaning her nine-year-old daughter.
Suzuki's tumultuous marriage to Abe was the subject ofEndless Waltz, a 1992 novel byMayumi Inaba, which prompted Suzuki's daughter to sue Inaba for invasion of privacy.[4] Despite this, in 1995 the novel was adapted for film byKōji Wakamatsu, an exponent of the pink film genre who had earlier directed Suzuki in his 1970 filmViolence Without a Cause.
Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki took portraits of Suzuki throughout her career. These photographs were compiled after her death in a collection titledIzumi,this bad girl.[5][a][b] Araki's portraits of Suzuki have also been used on covers of Japanese reissues of her works[6] as well as on foreign translations of her stories.[7]
In 1970, Suzuki was shortlisted for theBungakukai Prize for New Writers, and from 1971 devoted herself to writing. In 1975, thanks to an introduction from the science fiction authorTaku Mayumura, she published her first sci-fi short story, "Trial Witch," inS-F Magazine. She had initially met Mayumura when she made an appearance on the late-night television program11PM in 1970, during which he suggested she try reading science fiction.[2]: 27
Suzuki belongs to the "Second Generation" ofscience 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 scholarTakayuki Tatsumi calls Suzuki an "originator of the 'SF of Manners,' who makes the most of her well-developed camp sensibility."[8] SF criticNozomi Ōmori, a translator ofTed Chiang andRudy Rucker, has described her 1982 story "Hey, It's a Love Psychedelic!" as a forerunner ofcyberpunk.[9]
The sensibility of Suzuki's science fiction has occasionally been likened todrag.[10] Her work has also drawn comparison to the writing ofOctavia Butler for its prescience about advanced technologies.[11]
Although her acting career was brief, Suzuki's work was varied, and she appeared in bothpink films and on stage as a member ofTenjō Sajiki, the avant-garde theater troupe co-founded byShūji Terayama.[12]
In 1970, she appeared in a number of pink films under the nameNaomi Asaka, beginning with her debut,A Virgin at Play, as well asViolence Without a Cause, directed byKōji Wakamatsu, and the film adaptation ofGeorge Akiyama's controversial mangaZeni Geba, directed by Yoshinori Wada. On stage, Suzuki was a member of the cast ofTenjō 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
After the 1971 featureThrow Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets, directed byShūji Terayama, her only film appearance appears to have been a 52-minute 16mm film called 家獣House Beast, which was directed byTeiji Aoyama and released in 1979. The film has not been screened since the 1980s, however, and may belost.[13]
The timing of Suzuki's death is a preoccupation of "The Unfertilized Egg," a short story byJunko 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][14][15]
Suzuki was the widow of avant-garde jazz saxophonist Abe Kaoru (who died at 29 from an overdose), and hanged herself in February 1986.
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.]
There is a drag-like quality to Suzuki's writing
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