<Begin Segment 22>

SF: And, and so it was very well received and so that was kind of a launching pad to Chicago in part?

FM: Well, yes. Now, it was, when you say it was well received. As far as I knew, I had written a Master's thesis and it was going to go in the library and that was it. Steiner, who was at that point on the Board of Directors of the University of Washington Press, encouraged me to, about getting this thing published. He'd helped me in editing my original manuscript, the M.A. thesis. Having come out of the Japanese linguistic background, there were a lot of shortcomings in my writing style at that time. I think because of the amount of reading I'd done in western literature, I had a certain skill in writing that I had not, otherwise would not have got, gotten. But also, you know the Japanese style of communication is indirect and it has a lot of formality, formalization to it and it has a tendency toward the passive voice, as over against the active voice. All these kind of things are inherent in my writing style at this point. And Steiner very kindly takes time to you know, edit a great deal of what I had written, so that it would, could be made more distinctively publishable. So he was a critical help to me in advancing along this kind of career that was gradually finding myself involved in, without, you know, really intending that I should. I had not ever thought this is what I've got to do. I rather kind of drifted into this thing, and with the assistance of a man like Steiner. I might have ended up doing anything else but sociology. I suppose I would some, something that involved writing would have been involved simply because I thought writing as a very desirable thing. But, it probably would have, not have been necessarily in an academic field.

SF: So you finished Social Solidarity. It's published and then you go to the University of Chicago.

FM: Yeah. Now, before I get to Chicago, go back to the University of Washington.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.