This thesis aims to examine non-human agency in Elizabeth Jane Burnett’s The Grassling and Hiromi Itō’s Wild Grass on the Riverbank. Using a theoretical framework based on material ecocriticism, queer ecology and affect theory, the thesis explores how Burnett’s and Itō’s poetic narratives reconfigure the relationship between human and nonhuman in non-anthropocentric ways with the help of the irreal. The thesis discusses how the texts reimagine desire, moving from a Freudian view in which desire is repressed, to an understanding of desire as becoming as expressed by Deleuze. In the stories, humans metamorphose into plants, showing the interconnectedness of all matter and the importance of care exceeding species. These strands of the narratives contest anthropocentrism, and by extension also the heteropatriarchy to which it is related. Grief over traumatic experiences like family loss and migration in the stories are shown to be related to the loss of a planetary home as a result of climate change.

In this thesis the subject of grief and healing are examined in three novels by the Japanese writers Hiromi Kawakami, Ruth Ozeki and Banana Yoshimoto. The method for the analysis is based on psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’ Five Stages of Grief theory, but in the analysis of these novels, it became clear that the grief/healing-stages for the protagonists are not expressed in the exact same manner as the non-fictional patients of Kübler-Ross’ study. The analysis shows that this is partly due to the fact that the narratives take place in Japan and that there is a clear intervention where the writers have used magical interruptions in their realistic portrayal of bereavement, to help the protagonists begin to recover. These magical interruptions, this thesis states, are the use of magical realism, especially connected to the long history of Japanese folklore and myth. As a result, this thesis presents a modified model of analysis, which also reflects how the protagonists filled with bereavement and sorrow can be helped to heal and recover by the interruption of fantastic and magical events. Through this study it has become clear that not only is the need for healing significant but the need for family, relationships and a sense of belonging are just as important. To re-connect with their lost loved ones, whomever they may be, these characters must cross through the magical interventions within the narratives and dare to reach out to the people around them, strengthened by their loss and trauma, rather than fearing relationships with others due to previous trauma and grief.

This thesis represents a partial translation of the short story collection Omedetō by Kawakami Hiromi. Published in 2000, the collection contains twelve short stories, each narrating an intimate relationship between two people. It was favorably received by the literary world and was republished twice, in 2003 and 2007. My critical introduction provides context to Omedetō by discussing Kawakami’s biography and writing style, and the book’s reception in Japan. I also make note of my translation methods, domestication and dynamic equivalence, and provide examples of how I translated onomatopoeia. Finally, I give historical background to Japanese intimacy at the turn of the millennium and argue that each story serves as a commentary on Japanese modern intimacy, which Kawakami defines as a combination of physical and emotional closeness or a yearning for such.

This report includes my translation of the short story “Tread on a Snake” (Hebi o Fumu) by Kawakami Hiromi, which is presented here as a significant contribution to modern Japanese literature in translation. The story received the prestigious Akutagawa Prize in 1996, although support for it was not unanimous as seen in my translation of the judges’ comments offered here as well. Following the translation of the story itself is an essay that discusses my personal experiences translating the story. I discuss elements that may be unique to the experience of translating Kawakami’s works, but also many that are applicable more broadly to issues of translation that go beyond her works and even Japanese literature as well. Challenges included maintaining the author’s tone and voice, the appropriate use of notes to provide cultural background, and the deliberate use of non-translated terms in a translation. / text

Literary Meals in Canada étudie Pig Tails ’n Breadfruit d'Austin Clarke, Chorus of Mushrooms et The Kappa Child de Hiromi Goto, This Body de Tessa McWatt, ainsi que Diamond Grill de Fred Wah. Cette thèse entreprend d’établir la signification de la nourriture dans ces récits, ce qu'elle permet aux auteur(e)s d'exprimer par rapport à divers thématiques—les structures sociales, la culture, le langage, ou encore la subjectivité—et comment ils/elles établissent des connexions entre elles, et quelles conclusions ils/elles en tirent. En d'autres termes, cette thèse s'interroge sur les stratégies utilisées par ces auteur(e)s lorsqu'ils écrivent de la “nourritéra-ture.” Ma lecture de ces oeuvres est aussi ancrée au sein d'une conversation sur la nourriture au sens large: que ce soit dans les cercles académiques, dans les supermarchés, par l'intermédiaire des étiquettes, ou dans les médias. J'examine comment mon corpus littéraire répond, infirme, ou confirme les discours actuels sur la nourriture. Divisé en quatre chapitres—Production, Approvisionnement, Préparation, et Consommation—ce mémoire précise la signification du “literary supermarket” de Rachel Bowlby, en s'appuyant sur les travaux de Michael Pollan et Hiromi Goto; compare la haute cuisine d'Escoffier à la “hot-cuisine” d'Austin Clarke; recherche les connections entre l’acte de faire la cuisine et celui de l’écrire chez Luce Giard, Austin Clarke, et Fred Wah; confronte les préceptes d'Emily Post concernant les bonnes manières de la table à la cacophonie et aux bruits de mastication chez Hiromi Goto; et relie Tessa McWatt et Elspeth Probyn qui partagent, toutes deux, un intérêt et une approche à la sustentation des corps. Les textes qui composent ce corpus sont des “foodbooks” (“aliment-textes”). La nourriture, et les différentes activités qui y sont associées, y est transcrite. C’est pourquoi cette thèse accorde une grande importance aux particularités de ce moyen d'expression. / Literary Meals in Canada examines Austin Clarke’s Pig Tails ’n Breadfruit, Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms and The Kappa Child, Tessa McWatt’s This Body, and Fred Wah’s Diamond Grill. It asks, what does food mean to these stories, what does it allow the writers in question to say—about social structures, culture, language, and subjectivity—and how do they go about making these connections or drawing these conclusions? In other words, what are their food-writing strategies? I also read these texts as part of a larger conversation about food, a conversation taking place in academic circles as well as at the supermarket, on food labels, on television, and other media outlets. I look for moments in which my literary corpus responds to and challenges food-centred discourse. Comprised of four chapters—Production, Procurement, Preparation, and Consumption—this dissertation explicates Rachel Bowlby’s term, “literary supermarket,” through Michael Pollan and Hiromi Goto; it compares Escoffier’s haute cuisine with Austin Clarke’s “hot-cuisine”; it tracks the kinship between “doing-cooking” and writing cooking, as articulated by Luce Giard, Austin Clarke, and Fred Wah; it reads Emily Post’s advice on table manners against Hiromi Goto’s cacophony of gnashing and nibbling; and it pairs Tessa McWatt with Elspeth Probyn, both of whom share a similar approach to, and interest in, bodies that eat. The texts that make up this corpus are foodbooks. Food and the activities and processes associated with it are therefore mediated by language. For this reason the dissertation attends to the particularities and the potential effects of writing food.

Literary Meals in Canada étudie Pig Tails ’n Breadfruit d'Austin Clarke, Chorus of Mushrooms et The Kappa Child de Hiromi Goto, This Body de Tessa McWatt, ainsi que Diamond Grill de Fred Wah. Cette thèse entreprend d’établir la signification de la nourriture dans ces récits, ce qu'elle permet aux auteur(e)s d'exprimer par rapport à divers thématiques—les structures sociales, la culture, le langage, ou encore la subjectivité—et comment ils/elles établissent des connexions entre elles, et quelles conclusions ils/elles en tirent. En d'autres termes, cette thèse s'interroge sur les stratégies utilisées par ces auteur(e)s lorsqu'ils écrivent de la “nourritéra-ture.” Ma lecture de ces oeuvres est aussi ancrée au sein d'une conversation sur la nourriture au sens large: que ce soit dans les cercles académiques, dans les supermarchés, par l'intermédiaire des étiquettes, ou dans les médias. J'examine comment mon corpus littéraire répond, infirme, ou confirme les discours actuels sur la nourriture. Divisé en quatre chapitres—Production, Approvisionnement, Préparation, et Consommation—ce mémoire précise la signification du “literary supermarket” de Rachel Bowlby, en s'appuyant sur les travaux de Michael Pollan et Hiromi Goto; compare la haute cuisine d'Escoffier à la “hot-cuisine” d'Austin Clarke; recherche les connections entre l’acte de faire la cuisine et celui de l’écrire chez Luce Giard, Austin Clarke, et Fred Wah; confronte les préceptes d'Emily Post concernant les bonnes manières de la table à la cacophonie et aux bruits de mastication chez Hiromi Goto; et relie Tessa McWatt et Elspeth Probyn qui partagent, toutes deux, un intérêt et une approche à la sustentation des corps. Les textes qui composent ce corpus sont des “foodbooks” (“aliment-textes”). La nourriture, et les différentes activités qui y sont associées, y est transcrite. C’est pourquoi cette thèse accorde une grande importance aux particularités de ce moyen d'expression. / Literary Meals in Canada examines Austin Clarke’s Pig Tails ’n Breadfruit, Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms and The Kappa Child, Tessa McWatt’s This Body, and Fred Wah’s Diamond Grill. It asks, what does food mean to these stories, what does it allow the writers in question to say—about social structures, culture, language, and subjectivity—and how do they go about making these connections or drawing these conclusions? In other words, what are their food-writing strategies? I also read these texts as part of a larger conversation about food, a conversation taking place in academic circles as well as at the supermarket, on food labels, on television, and other media outlets. I look for moments in which my literary corpus responds to and challenges food-centred discourse. Comprised of four chapters—Production, Procurement, Preparation, and Consumption—this dissertation explicates Rachel Bowlby’s term, “literary supermarket,” through Michael Pollan and Hiromi Goto; it compares Escoffier’s haute cuisine with Austin Clarke’s “hot-cuisine”; it tracks the kinship between “doing-cooking” and writing cooking, as articulated by Luce Giard, Austin Clarke, and Fred Wah; it reads Emily Post’s advice on table manners against Hiromi Goto’s cacophony of gnashing and nibbling; and it pairs Tessa McWatt with Elspeth Probyn, both of whom share a similar approach to, and interest in, bodies that eat. The texts that make up this corpus are foodbooks. Food and the activities and processes associated with it are therefore mediated by language. For this reason the dissertation attends to the particularities and the potential effects of writing food.

This dissertation examines selected literary works by Anita Rau Badami, Denise Chong, Hiromi Goto, Larissa Lai, and Kerri Sakamoto, exploring how their stories respond both to the absence of representations of Asian Canadian women in literary discourses of the early twentieth century and to homogenizing assumptions in official histories. My formulation of (re)presentation in the title recognizes the multiplicity and constructedness of these denoted identities and experiences and the self-representations of these writers as a response to this elision and misrepresentation. The term repair borrows from philosopher Hilde Lindemann Nelson’s theorizing of “narrative repair,” which involves telling counterstories, but also is used in psychological contexts as a healing mechanism. An elaboration of both models, as applied in this study, is optimally useful in diasporic contexts as resistance to the elision and/or racist and gendered discursive constructions of Asian Canadian women and as restoration of damaged identities. The texts under study—Tamarind Mem, The Concubine’s Children, Chorus of Mushrooms, When Fox Is a Thousand, and The Electrical Field—were all published in the mid-1990s, after the initial forays into the writing of novels by Asian Canadian authors such as Joy Kogawa (1981) and SKY Lee (1990). My choice of these sister narratives recognizes the family as central to identity construction and intergenerational (mis)understanding and emphasizes the importance of this period’s second-generation explosion of writings by Japanese, Chinese, and Indo Canadian women that paved the way for the current plethora of writings by authors from these cultural groups that contribute significantly to Canadian representations of diasporic identity. This study explores the nuances and pluralisms of the representations of Asian Canadian women. The texts under consideration are cultural autobiographies and matrilineal or sexually transgressive narratives that reinvent the cultural memory of Canadian women of Asian ancestry; produce cultural fusions through the transcreation of oral traditions and simulations of the oral, transcoding of ancestral tongues, and discursive strategies of silence; and address connections between self and place in examinations of Canada, the adopted country, as (un)homely territory. Presenting unhyphenated diasporic female subjects who exceed socially scripted boundaries of gender, sexuality, race, and nationality, in terms of both Canada and the writers’ and protagonists’ ancestral Asian nations, these “acts of narrative insubordination” (Nelson 8) exemplify emancipatory politics and recuperative and revisionary projects. Interrogating questions of (re)presentation and repair from positions of liminality and across gendered, racial, linguistic, and geographical divides, this research contributes to current urgent discussions of identity, transculturation, multiculturalism, and globalization in literary and cultural studies.

This master's thesis focuses on the issue of food in some selected works by Kawakami Hiromi (born 1958). At first, it attempts to express some characteristic features of modern Japanese cuisine in general, which are closely connected to the creation of the concept of national identity, and to give a summary of works of modern and contemporary Japanese literature in which the topic of food is present. Next, it describes the work of Kawakami Hiromi. After introducing the author's main masterpieces and its typical features, it comes to the interpretation of the selected texts which were published within 1998 and 2010. It interprets the works mainly from the thematic point of view and it attempts to determine connections in which the issue and motifs of food appear. It also studies what role is played by food, eating or cooking in Kawakami's work. In selected translated passages it makes an effort to give evidence of certain elements in her work such as: food as means of befriendment, motif of a skilled male cook, inability to cook, which leads to a conflict in a relationship etc. It compares works in which often appear lonely women protagonists longing for love and in which the real world meets the supernatural or the traditional elements meet the modern ones. In order to point out other connections...