Madame Butterfly: Japonisme, Puccini, and the Search for the Real Cho-Cho-San

Rating:
Summary: Who was the Real Madame Butterfly? A Fascinating Study
Review: If you've ever seen Miss Saigon on Broadway, David Henry Hwang's postmodern play, M. Butterfly, or Puccini's original opera, Madame Butterfly, you'll love this book. This is a fascinating, thorough re-telling of the Madame Butterfly story... answering the age-old question, "Was there a real Madame Butterfly who inspired Puccini's opera?" A meticulous, nonfiction detective story of a book, the author goes back to Puccini's earliest historical and cultural sources, debunking old myths and identifying earlier incarnations of the story, and discovers the tragic, real-life love story behind the opera. A great read for any opera buff or anyone who's interested in Japanese culture! Great photos, too. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Who was the Real Madame Butterfly? A Fascinating Study
Review: If you've ever seen Miss Saigon on Broadway, David Henry Hwang's postmodern play, M. Butterfly, or Puccini's original opera, Madame Butterfly, you'll love this book. This is a fascinating, thorough re-telling of the Madame Butterfly story... answering the age-old question, "Was there a real Madame Butterfly who inspired Puccini's opera?" A meticulous, nonfiction detective story of a book, the author goes back to Puccini's earliest historical and cultural sources, debunking old myths and identifying earlier incarnations of the story, and discovers the tragic, real-life love story behind the opera. A great read for any opera buff or anyone who's interested in Japanese culture! Great photos, too. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Mme. Butterfly Story Marred By Omissions & Errors
Review: The book is a very interesting study of the whole Mme. Butterfly story written by a highly educated career diplomat who, like many of his profession, had a lot of the free time necessary to pursue his pet research topic. As an opera buff and linguist the author is able to gain many interesting insights into the Butterfly story. For example, he approaches the opera from the angles of Pierre Loti and Siebold and examines the phenomenon of Japonisme which swept 19th century Europe. Unfortunately, despite the author's meticulous research, the book is marred by spelling inconsistencies (for instance, the personal name and honorific O-Kiku is rendered correctly but Oine (sic) is not). The book also suffers from not having made full use of Japanese sources (including a book written by a descendant) as the author does not read or speak Japanese (this last point was confirmed by the author himself).