Agnes Smedley

American journalist. Born into a poor farming family in northern Missouri, she worked as a factory girl and qualified as a temporary teacher at the age of 18. She married at the age of 20, but divorced soon after. She studied hard at San Diego Normal School and the night school of New York University. In 1918, she was arrested for helping Indian independence activists and imprisoned for three months. After her release, she published her first novel, "Jail Companions" (1919). In 1919, she went to Germany, where she fell in love with Indian revolutionary V. Chattopadhyaya (1880-1941) and lived with him for eight years. In 1928, she went to China as a correspondent for the Frankfurter Zeitung, and followed the Eighth Route Army for 12 years, reporting on its activities on the ground. During this time, she became close friends with Ozaki Hotsumi, but returned to the United States at the end of 1941. After World War II, as anti-Communism in the United States progressed, oppression intensified, and in 1949 she was suspected in connection with the Sorge Incident. In the autumn of the same year she traveled to London with the aim of going to China, but died of illness on May 6, 1950. In accordance with her will, her ashes were interred in the Revolutionary Cemetery in Babaoshan, west of Beijing. Zhu De's biography, The Great Road, was published posthumously and was the first of its kind to be published in Japan in 1955. Her other works include autobiographies A Woman Walking the Earth (1929), China Resists (1938), and The Voice of China Sings (1943).

[Kei Suzuki]

"Chinese Songs" translated by Ichiro Takasugi (1957, Misuzu Shobo)" ▽ "The Great Road" translated by Tomoji Abe (Iwanami Bunko) 2 volumes in total" ▽ "A Woman Traveling the Earth Alone" translated by Hidemi Ozaki (Kadokawa Bunko)" ▽ "New Edition: Reminiscences of Smedley by Ayako Ishigaki (1976, Misuzu Shobo)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

アメリカのジャーナリスト。ミズーリ州北部の貧農に生まれ、女工などをしながら、18歳で臨時教員の資格をとる。20歳で結婚したが、まもなく離婚。サン・ディエゴ師範学校、ニューヨーク大学夜間部で苦学する。1918年、インド独立運動家を助けたために逮捕され、3か月入獄、釈放後、処女作『刑務所の仲間たち』（1919）を出版。1919年ドイツに渡り、インド人革命家チャトパジャーヤV. Chattopadhyaya（1880―1941）と恋愛、8年間生活をともにする。1928年『フランクフルター・ツァイトゥンク』紙特派員として中国に渡り、これより12年間八路軍に従い、その活動を現地報道する。この間、尾崎秀実(おざきほつみ)と懇意になるが、1941年末に帰米。第二次世界大戦後、アメリカの反共化が進むにつれ圧迫が強まり、1949年にはゾルゲ事件に関連した容疑を受けた。同年秋、中国行きを目ざしてロンドンに渡ったが、1950年5月6日病没。遺言により、北京(ペキン)西郊八宝山の革命墓地に納骨された。朱徳の伝記『偉大なる道』が遺稿となり、1955年世界に先駆けて日本で出版された。ほかに自叙伝『女1人大地を行く』（1929）、『中国は抵抗する』（1938）、『中国の歌ごえ』（1943）などがある。

［鈴木ケイ］

『高杉一郎訳『中国の歌ごえ』（1957・みすず書房）』▽『阿部知二訳『偉大なる道』全2冊（岩波文庫）』▽『尾崎秀実訳『女1人大地を行く』（角川文庫）』▽『石垣綾子著『新版　回想のスメドレー』（1976・みすず書房）』

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