Kurahashi Yumiko, a Japanese Postmodernist
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THE INTERTEXTUAL NOVEL AND THE INTERRELATIONAL SELF: KURAHASHI YUMIKO, A JAPANESE POSTMODERNIST by ATSUKO SAKAKI B.A., The University of Tokyo, 1986 M.A., The University of Tokyo, 1988 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Department of Asian Studies) We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard Signature(s) removed to protect privacy THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA August 1992 © Atsuko Sakaki, 1 992 _________________ __________ In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Signature(s) removed to protect privacy (Signature) Department of Asian Studies The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada Date September 4, 1992 DE-6 (2/88) ABSTRACT This thesis explores narrational, textual and thematic aspects of novels by Kurahashi Yumiko (1 935- ), applying poststructuralist critical approaches developed by Judith Butler, Barbara Herrnstein Smith, Roland Barthes, Julia Kristeva, and Michel Foucault, focusing upon the notion of the performativity in selfhood and textuality. My discussion begins with an overview of the context within which Kurahashi emerges as a writer, her debate with pro-Romantic or -realist Japanese critics regarding her main compositional methodology— pastiche—and the challenges to sexual norms made in her fictional practice. Kurahashi’s views on selfhood, narratives, text, and authorship, I show, parallel in many ways the concerns of poststructural 1st critics. The main body of my thesis consists of six chapters, each of which deals with either an individual novel, or two related novellas. Blue lourney (1961) is a second-person narrative written in a collage form, which demonstrates performative femininity. Divine Maiden (1 965) presents the themes of incest and amnesia, inevitably questioning issues of self and other. The novel’s characters do not possess constative identity but rather demonstrate performative selfhood, and are thus not described as individuals but rather associated with others, constituting “indices.” The self-reflexive, embedding, and dialogic narrative foregrounds the acts of writing and reading in which characters engages, and thus demonstrates the notion of narrative as a verbal act, while delineating paradoxical inversions of subjectivity between narrator and narratee, and narrator and narrated. The Adventures of Sumivakist Q (1 969), a third-person narrative with an intrusive and yet elusive II extradiegetic narrator, develops “indices” as the method of structuring the text, incessantly making and unmaking parallels and contrasts between subjects. The theme of selfhood is again questioned in the systems of cognitive, sexual, and digestive familiarization with others in the novel. The fourth chapter of my thesis deals with two novellas, “Virginia” and “The Long Passage of Dreams” (1968) which frame subversions of the novel and the self with characters who subscribe to the established norms of language and society. Subversive sexual acts and paradoxes still exist, but only within the rigid framework of a logic which objectivizes them. Kurahashi’s “Japanization” of themes and methods begins with the latter novella, which refers to noh plays and uses their double-layered structure of dream and reality. This process becomes more apparent in Symnosium (1 985), which pastiches Divine Maiden through its theme of incest, its inversion of subject and object, and its embedded narrative, but also refers to the traditional Japanese models and employs the narrative strategies of monogatari. In so doing, the novel suggests the parallel between traditional Japanese poetics and poststructuralist criticism, particularly in terms of its stress upon the contingency of ‘truth’ and ‘selfhood’. Popoi (1 987), the novel which is the topic of Chapter Six, refines the technique of pastiche, exploring a plurality of fragmentations of self and text. Having examined the individual texts, I conclude that a parallel can be drawn between Kurahashi’s work and that of Western postmodern artists, while remaining aware of the precarious nature of such labelling due to the different cultural context. III TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF FIGURES vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENT vii INTRODUCTION: Denaturalising Nature, Dissolving the Self, Deconstructing the Novel 1 CHAPTER 1: The Birth of a Female Novelist: Blue Iournev 34 The Narrative Structure of Blue lourney 47 Images 64 Thematic Concerns: Imaginative Relations of the Self to Others 77 Conclusion 83 CHAPTER 2: A Narcissistic Narrative: Divine Maiden 85 Thematic Concerns: Incest as a Self-Reflexive Act, and Amnesia as a Self Extinctive Act 98 Characterization, Performance, and Inversion of Identity 108 Paradox: In/Around the Novel on the Novel 124 CHAPTER 3: Demonstration of Disorder, Consciousness of Chaos: The Adventures of Sumiyakist Q 130 Narration 142 Indices: Metaphorical Associations of Characters 150 Familiarization of Others, Defamiliarization of Self: Digestive, Reproductive, Cognitive Systems Which Relate the Subject to the World 168 Conclusion 181 CHAPTER 4: Bracketing the Anti-World: “Virginia” and “The Long Passage of Dreams” 182 “Virginia” 187 “The Long Passage of Dreams” 1 93 Conclusion 256 iv Table of Contents, Continued Page CHAPTER 5: Application of the Anti-Novel in a Classical Japanese Mode: Symposium 219 Narrative Strategies 226 Thematic Aspects 236 Textual Devices 243 Conclusion 256 CHAPTER 6: The Self as a Collage: Popoi 257 CONCLUSION: A Floating Bridge Between Indigenous Japanese Poetics and Postmodernism 293 WORKS CONSULTED 301 v LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1 289 Figure 2 290 Figure 3 291 Figure 4 292 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my thanks to those to whom I owe much in completing the Ph.D. programme. Perhaps I may compare myself to a sapling which will eventually grow into a mature tree, just as “I” in Kurahashi’s “Virginia” does. My primary thanks goes to Dr Kinya Tsuruta, my supervisor, for his endeavours to construct a care-free environment in which I might devote myself to research, for his suggestions based upon his experience as a scholar and a human being, and for his humorous encouragement which was particularly needed in times of difficulty. On the ground he prepared for me, I have set down my roots. I would also like to acknowledge Dr Lorraine Weir’s guidance, always succinct and to the point. I can perhaps compare her to the sunshine. She also trimmed my digressive branches, as well as shed light on the aspect of my thoughts which was lagging in proper growth. Dr Joshua Mostow, in turn, has been like rain, pouring a wide range of knowledge onto me, which caused me to radically revise some of the assumptions I made in writing. Without his advice, my discussion would certainly have been thinner. I greatly appreciate the three supervisory committee members’ dedication of time and scholarship. A large number of their suggestions regarding the expansion of my topic within the context of modern Japanese fiction, feminist writing and postmodernism remain yet to be explored in my future research. I would like to express special thanks to Mr Philip Holden, who has proofread all the chapters, showing interest and making reliable judgements in a friendly manner. Also, I appreciate the help of Mr Sheldon Bergner who volunteered typing for little profit on his part when my deadline was approaching. VII I owe much to partial readers of my thesis: Dr Robert Kramer whose vivacious interlocution, especially regarding my critical reconsideration of structuralist poetics, I greatly enjoyed; Dr Patricia Merivale whose enthusiastic reading of, and many a suggestion upon, the earlier version of Chapter 6 launched me onto the project; Ms Kim Adams, a devoted proofreader of Chapter 6, who inspired me with the possibility of bridging the textual and thematic aspects of Kurahashi’s works. My genuine gratitude is also expressed for the support of UBC’s libraries, especially in the Asian Library, Interlibrary Loan and the Fine Arts Library. I would like to acknowledge the financial support I have been given in the form of the Killam Predoctoral Fellowship, the University of British Columbia Graduate Fellowship, and the Government of Canada Awards for Foreign Nationals, which have enabled me to concentrate on my research. I have been emotionally supported by many friends who, while others have come and gone, have remained vital resources for me: Ms Eleanor Blain, Mr Takeru Suzuki, Ms Yunsun Nam, and Ms Miyako Nakamura, to name but a few. Finally, I would like to express my thanks and guilty conscience to my parents, who let their daughter pursue the subject of her choice against their wishes. VI I I 1 INTRODUCTION: Denaturalising Nature, Dissolving the Self, Deconstructing the Novel While Kurahashi Yumiko (1935— ) has attracted a number of readers in Japan and other countries, and has received various literary awards, only a few serious and substantial critical studies of her texts have been undertaken. Since 1 960, she has published more than ten novels, dozens of short stories, five translations, and four volumes of critical essays. Her awards include the Meiji daigaku gakucho shO [Meiji University President’s Prize] in 1960, JoryU bungaku shO [Women’s Literature Prizey] in 1961, Tamura Toshiko shô [Tamura Toshiko Memorial Prize] in 1963, and Izumi Kyôka shô [lzumi KyOka Memorial Prize] in 1 987. Her fiction to 1 971 has been collected in The Complete Works of Kurahashi Yumiko (1 975-1 976), and her work has been included in nine anthologies of contemporary Japanese literature marketed by major Japanese publishers.