The Memoir of a Geisha

When American writer Liza Dalby first ventured to Japan in the late ’60s, misconception of Eastern culture was commonplace in the West. So when she returned in the mid ’70s as a Fulbright scholar, she set about tackling one of the most misunderstood elements of Japanese culture: the Geisha. Dalby’s thesis laid the foundation for a subsequent book-titled simply Geisha-in which her unique experiences not only afforded her unparalleled insight in to the Geisha community, but also led to her being heralded in Japan as aoi-me no geisha, or “the blue-eyed geisha.” Her experiences subsequently informed Arthur Golden’s 1997 novel Memoirs of a Geisha, which Steven Spielberg adapted into a popular film.

Next Wednesday, January 21, the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center at UCSB will host a screening of Memoirs of a Geisha and Dalby will be present for a post-screening conversation with John Nathan. She will also host a talk called Kimono and Culture at Campbell Hall on Tuesday, January 20. Brett Leigh Dicks recently spoke to Liz Dalby about her involvement in Memoirs of a Geisha.

What role did you play in the production of the film? I was their onsite Geisha consultant and was there for most of the actual filming.