Michiko Kakutani
Michiko Kakutani (born 9 January, 1955) is a Japanese American Pulitzer Prize-winning critic for the New York Times.
Biography
The only child of noted Yale mathematician Shizuo Kakutani, Michiko Kakutani was born in New Haven, Connecticut. She received her B.A. in English literature from Yale University in 1976.[1] After graduation she initially worked as a reporter for The Washington Post and then TIME magazine from 1977-1979. In 1979, she joined The New York Times as a reporter.[1]
Kakutani has been a highly influential literary critic for The New York Times since 1983.[1] She is best known for her book reviews. Her eviscerations of some prominent authors have garnered her both attention and sometimes criticism. She has also been known to write reviews in the voice of movie or book characters, including Austin Powers[2], Holden Caulfield[3], Elle Woods of Legally Blonde[4], and Truman Capote's character Holly Golightly.[5]
Awards
- 1998: Pulitzer Prize for Criticism[1]
Criticism
Salman Rushdie has called her "a weird woman who seems to feel the need to alternately praise and spank."[6] In a June 2005 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, author Norman Mailer criticized Kakutani as a "one-woman kamikaze" (Kakutani is of Japanese descent) who "disdains white male authors" and deliberately "bring(s) out your review two weeks in advance of publication. She trashes it just to hurt sales and embarrass the author." Mailer also said that New York Times editors were "terrified" of Kakutani, and "can't fire her" because she's "a token," "an Asiatic, a feminist." [7]
Popular culture
She was featured, though without appearance, in an episode of the popular show Sex and the City, in which Carrie Bradshaw releases a book that Michiko Kakutani reviews.[8] Kakutani is known for the alleged overuse of the word limn in her reviews.[9] She was parodied in the essay "I Am Michiko Kakutani"[10] by one of her former classmates, Colin McEnroe.
Notes
- ^ a b c d "1998 Pulitzer Prizes - CRITICISM - Biography". Retrieved 2007-07-09.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help). - ^ Kakutani, Michiko (2002-07-23). "Hipoisie and Chic-oisie And London Had the Mojo". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-07-09.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Kakutani, Michiko (2005-08-23). "Who's Afraid of Holden Caulfield?". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-07-09.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Kakutani, Michiko (2005-06-19). "Digging For Gold In Stilettos And Silk". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-07-09.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Kakutani, Michiko (2005-10-24). "Tru, Dear, There's Only One Holly. Moi". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-07-09.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Marcus, James. ""Rock of Ages"". Retrieved 2007-07-08.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Brinkley, Douglas (30 June-14 July), "Norman Mailer: The Last Buccaneer Looks Back", Rolling Stone, 977/978: 84–85, 88, 90, 92, 94–95, 162, 166.
{{citation}}: Check date values in:|date=and|year=/|date=mismatch (help) - ^ Waters, Juliet (2005-10-13). "Candace Bushnell moves from chick lit to fem lit with Lipstick Jungle". Montreal Mirror. Retrieved 2007-07-09.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Gross, Matt. "One Life to Limn by Michiko Kakutani". New York Magazine. Retrieved 2007-07-09.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ McEnroe, Colin (1999-01). "I Am Michiko Kakutanii". McSweeney's. Retrieved 2007-07-09.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help)