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New Ways of Being in the Fiction of Yoshimoto Banana

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New Ways of Being in the Fiction of Yoshimoto Banana SINGLE FRAME HEROICS: NEW WAYS OF BEING IN THE FICTION OF YOSHIMOTO BANANA Ph. D Thesis Martin Ramsay Swinburne University of Technology 2009 CONTENTS Legend............................................................................................................. 5 Disclaimer…………………………………………………………………... 6 Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………. 7 Abstract ….…………………………………………………………………. 8 Introduction: A Literature of ‘Self-Help’………………………………… 9 Yoshimoto’s postmodern style…...………………………………………….. 11 Early success and a sense of impasse………………………………………... 15 A trans-cultural writer……………………………………………………….. 17 Rescuing literature from irrelevance………………………………………… 21 Chapter One: Women and Gender Roles in Contemporary Japanese Society………………………………………………………………………. 27 An historical overview ………………………………………….…………... 27 Nation building and changing ‘ideals of femininity’………………………... 30 The rise of the Modan Ga-ru (Modern Girl)………………………………… 32 The Post-War Experience ……………………………………….………….. 37 The emergence of the ‘parasite single’……………………………………… 38 Women’s magazines and changing ‘ideals of femininity’…………………... 41 The Women’s Liberation movement……………………………….………... 44 Fear of the young: The politics of falling birth rates……..………………….. 47 Chapter Two: Yoshimoto Banana and Contemporary Japanese Literature…....…………………………………………………………….. 53 Japanese literature, women and modernity …………………………………. 54 The problem with popular culture …………………………….…………….. 62 2 Sh ôjo culture: the ‘baby-doll face of feminism’ in Japan……..……………. 70 A global literature and a shared sense of Romanticism …………………….. 79 Chapter Three: The enclosed world of the shôjo; Kitchen (1988) to Amrita (1994).……………………………………………………………….. 93 ‘A separatist literature of inner space’…………………...………………….. 96 The rise of manga…………………………………………….……..…...…... 110 Single frame heroics: Shôjo manga and ‘L literature’ (new women’s literature)…………..…………………………………………….………...… 113 The influence of manga on Yoshimoto Banana’s writing style……………... 121 Reconstituted families…...……………...……………...…………...……….. 125 Jungian archetypes….……………………………………………………….. 132 ‘Fantasy’ women and ‘wise’ children…...……………...…………………… 136 Death and the ‘flow of time’……………………………………...……….… 147 Chapter Four: Beyond the enclosed world of the shôjo; Marika no Nagai Yoru (1994) to South Point (2008)....………………..………............ 157 From nuclear annihilation to a sense of ecocrisis……………………………. 159 The destruction of the environment………………………………………….. 163 ‘Tired of living in big cities’………………………………………………… 170 ‘Sermons in stones’………………………………………………………….. 173 ‘Magicians of the universe’………………………………………………….. 182 A ‘pure heart’………..……………………….…….……..………...……….. 189 Travel in the New Age………………………………………………………. 198 The danger of cults…………………………………………………………... 205 The power of dreams and the importance of living a creative life………… 210 3 Conclusion: The Realisation of a Dream……………………...…………... 213 Nation builders or nation wreckers?................................................................. 215 A Japanese female writer………………………………………...………….. 219 Future Directions…………………………………………………………….. 226 Appendix 1. Interview with Shimada Masahiko (2000) ………...……….. 229 Appendix 2. Fax interview with Yoshimoto Banana (2007)…………..…. 232 Bibliography: Novels, short stories and articles by Yoshimoto Banana... 234 References…………….…………………………………………………….. 237 4 LEGEND The following dates indicate significant periods in Japanese history referred to throughout this thesis: Heian Period 794 - 1184 Kamakura Period 1185 – 1332 Muromachi Period 1333 – 1572 Momoyama Period 1573 – 1614 Edo (Tokugawa) Period 1615 – 1867 Meiji Period 1868 – 1911 Taisho Period 1912 – 1925 Showa Period 1926 – 1988 Heisei Period 1989– to the present 5 DECLARATION This thesis contains no material that has been submitted for examination in any other course or which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, this thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference is made in the text. 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the writing of this thesis I have had great support from many people. Apart from family and friends including my wife Moko and children Martha and Max, there are those like the writer Shimada Masahiko, who made himself available for an interview whilst in Melbourne, in 2000, to present a lecture entitled ‘The Dream of a Free Person: Talking about Suburbs, Suicide and Capitalism’. Shimada was not only generous with his time but expansive in his comments on Yoshimoto’s writing, in particular, and Japanese writing, in general. I would also like to thank Yoshimoto Banana for taking the time on two occasions now to answer questions that I have put to her by fax. The first time was in 2001, but I was able to fax her again in 2006, to ask about the development of environmental themes in her more recent writing. As well as family and friends, Shimada Masahiko and Yoshimoto Banana, I would also like to express my thanks to the following people who have helped me with the writing of this thesis. They include supervisors from Swinburne University of technology Dr Alina Skoutarides and Dr David Fairservice, who were on board at the beginning, and then Dr Theresa Savage and Dr Darren Tofts, who oversaw it through to its conclusion. Special mention must go to Dr Tofts for his ongoing enthusiasm, guidance and patience during the crucial stages in the development of this thesis. Thanks must also go to Dr Alison Tokita for reading an earlier draft of this thesis and Dr Iris Ralph, a friend of many years, for her advice regarding recent developments in ecocritical thinking. 7 ABSTRACT Yoshimoto Banana’s writing has received criticism for being superficial and a product of an empty capitalism. Despite receiving literary awards, Yoshimoto herself has consistently distanced her writing from ‘literature’. This thesis argues that Yoshimoto’s writing can be read as an example of a paraliterature that is significant because of the creative tension caused by its exploration of themes more often associated with ‘literature’ but borrowing stylistically from popular culture. By combining these elements, Yoshimoto’s writing has ge nerated not only a cultural divide between critics defending traditional culture and postmodern relativists who want to do away with critical distinctions such as ‘high’ and ‘low’ art, but also a constituted body of work that can be seen as a touchstone in a transitional society polarised by changing ‘ideals of femininity’. As such her writing can be characterised as a ‘separatist literature of inner space’. Since her debut Yoshimoto has quickly succeeded in not only finding success at the local Japanese level but also overseas and, therefore, she can be seen as a trans-cultural writer. Her success is thus helping to redefine contemporary literature both within Japan and overseas. Apart from critical and scholarly writing, media coverage of Japan-related issues is examined in both the Australian as well as the Japanese media in order to identify the context in which the general reader in Australia ‘reads’ Yoshimoto as a contemporary Japanese writer. In relation to it being seen as an example of postmodernism, mention needs to be made of the fact that Yoshimoto’s writing is discussed as much, if not more, in popular media as it is in academic contexts and her writing is often invoked in discussions of contemporary Japanese society in the new media. 8 INTRODUCTION: A LITERATURE OF ‘SELF-HELP’ Yoshimoto Banana, born in 1964, has written a number of novels, short stories and several collections of essays and interviews. Yoshimoto’s writing is significant because it represents a departure from traditional Japanese literature. Yoshimoto’s fiction not only features young characters living in a consumer society cut off from traditional social structures such as the family, work and marriage but also uses non-literary language and techniques more often associated with manga (Japanese comics). Whilst shôsetsu is a highly elastic category which can encompass a broad range of texts, Yoshimoto’s writing can be seen as an example of paraliterature exisiting on the margins of traditional junbungaku (pure literature) and she herself can be seen as an example of a ‘new breed’ of high-profile writers in contemporary Japanese literature including Murakami Haruki, Murakami Ryu, Shimada Masahiko and Yamada Amy. Moonlight Shadow, Utakata/Sanctuary and Goodbye Tsugumi followed her first novel Kitchen, published in 1988. Other novels include N.P. (1990), Kanashii Yokan (1991), Lizard (1993) and Amrita (1994). After the publication of Amrita, Yoshimoto declared that the first phase of her career was over. She has since published several novels, collections of short stories and essays as well as several travel books. In 2001 her website YoshimotoBanana.Com was launched, which included e-mails from Yoshimoto’s fans as well as a personal diary and photographs, which are all updated regularly. Many of these have subsequently been published in book form beginning with YoshimotoBanana.Com in 2002. 9 This thesis makes a critical bibliographical survey of the fiction and other writings of Yoshimoto Banana. Yoshimoto’s representation of contemporary Japanese society is analysed in relation to recent studies by, among others, Takie Sugiyama Lebra, Sumiko Iwao and Nancy Rosenberger, which discuss the changing roles of women in Japanese society and the breakup of the traditional family. This
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