In the early modern period, literary Sinitic (also known as classical Chinese) was a shared writing system and cultural asset in East Asia. The Sinitic text, while being voiced in various local languages, remained largely the same across the region. The shared Sinitic writing enabled educated people in East Asia who spoke different languages to engage in conversation through writing. It was the silence of literary Sinitic that enabled it to be a trans-local communicating system. However, where is the place for the Chinese sound in the neat picture of the Sinitic writing system versus its various local vocalizations in different countries? Focusing on the effort of Japanese scholars in restoring Chinese sound to the Sinitic text, this dissertation brings the conceptualization and practice of spoken Chinese in the eighteenth century Japan into the supposedly silent Sinitic culture. The early modern Japanese learners of contemporary spoken Chinese intended to vocalize the written Sinitic. When they realized that contemporary spoken Chinese and literary Sinitic writing were actually not compatible, they solved the problem by resorting again to writing. One solution was to propose a new form of Sinitic writing using colloquial expressions, the zokugo (colloquial [Chinese]) writing. The other was to retreat to the comfortable zone of how to pronounce individual sinographs and Sinitic terms—the phonological study of tōon (contemporary Chinese sound). This dissertation studies vocality as the interrelation and interaction of speaking and writing, to illuminate an early modern East Asian concept of language that cannot be contained in the modern, Western phonocentric view. Through examining the language learning and fiction writing that related to contemporary spoken Chinese in eighteenth-century Japan, this dissertation argues that spoken Chinese and literary Sinitic were not the two opposites of a binary, nor was the spoken language the preliminary to the colloquial Chinese writing. In both the spoken language and the colloquial writing, vocality was a spectrum of speaking and writing, the proportion of which was attuned to the preferences of different speakers, social settings, and literary genres. The chapters of this dissertation delineate the trajectory of early modern Japanese engagement with contemporary spoken Chinese in relation to writing. It begins with chapter 1 on Chinese popular fiction—the primary learning material for the study of contemporary spoken Chinese—and its colloquial style that imitates storytelling performance. Chapters 2 and 3 are devoted to the study of contemporary spoken Chinese in early modern Japan. Chapter 2 contextualizes the study of contemporary spoken Chinese in the early to middle Tokugawa (1600–1868) period—a time when Chinese language study gradually gained attention. Chapter 3 reconstructs the learning of tōwa (contemporary spoken Chinese) in eighteenth-century Japan by pointing out its spectrum of vocality. Chapters 4 depicts the contemplation of the incompatibility of contemporary spoken Chinese and literary Sinitic writing, as well as the transformation from the language learning tōwa to the phonological study tōon. Chapters 5 and 6 deal with the other transmutation of the tōwa study from language study to the zokugo writing, as showcased in the spread of colloquial Chinese fictions in early modern Japan. Chapter 5 examines how Chinese popular fiction was conceptualized and approached in early modern Japan. Chapter 6 shows how eighteenth-century Japan witnessed a gradual increase in the attention paid to the literary format of colloquial Chinese fiction, despite a general emphasis on the colloquial vocabulary. The epilogue discusses colloquial Chinese fiction in nineteenth-century Japan. Together, these chapters delve into the vocality of early modern Japan, as a fascination with speaking that is complexly entangled with writing. The early modern era offers illuminating cases of vocality, with fiction writing intending to capture the essence of oral performance and spoken language, and speech making full use of the literary Sinitic to enhance its cultural flavor. Whereas the eighteenth-century study of contemporary spoken Chinese did explore the spoken language, it was not based on modern phonocentric concepts but to seek to vocalize the written language in its most authoritative version. The multiple efforts to invite speaking into a conversation with writing reveal an early modern perception of language that could not be fully comprehended without considering writing-centered literacy.

Mishima Yukio premiered the play Rokumeikan in 1956 and published it in 1957. For more than half a century, this play has been praised as one of the finest Japanese plays in the Post-War period. Rokumeikan is a multi-act tragic melodrama, set in 1886 (Meiji Period) in the Rokumeikan building. The play intertwines complex political cabals, intense loves and hatreds, and multiple deceptions embodying the conflict between political power and love. This essay explores the reasons why Rokumeikan has maintained its popularity over its fifty year long performance history and examines the critical reception of the play. My analysis of the Rokumeikan text is based on conflicting notions of truth and power. According to the French philosopher, Michel Foucault, socio-political power creates truth. This "power reality" is embodied in the play by Prime Minister Kageyama, and its authority is challenged by his wife, Asako, who has an entirely different conception of truth. This interplay of conflicting values has helped to maintain the popularity and stature of the play for half a century.

The PhD thesis deals with the topic of male homosexuality in the works of Japanese modernist authors; its aim is to discern in what ways homosexuality is portrayed in these works. In the theoretical part, the thesis first provides a wider definition of modernist literature, which encompasses not just the so-called pure literature but also popular literature works from the same period. It then offers an overview of male homosexuality in Japanese history from the Heian period to the 1930s with an emphasis on artistic representation of male homosexuality. Starting from the Tokugawa period, the focus is on individual discourses on male homosexuality - legal, medical and popular. The theoretical part also contains the methodology used for achieving the aim of this thesis, which is based mostly on post-structuralism and queer theory. This methodology is used in form of concrete tools - discourse analysis and deconstruction of binary oppositions underlying the social constructs of gender and sexuality. These approaches are complemented by strategies created by Martin C. Putna and Gregory M. Pflugdelder, who use a combination of topic and textual strategy analysis together with biographical and autobiographical information about the author to find different types of homosexuality representation in literary...

Ecocriticism is a field that examines the relationship between literature and the physical environment. As an emerging discipline, it is crucial to expand its contribution to reinforce the existing literature. A writer's creation of a literary world reflects their life and relationship to the outside world. In this context, the thesis provides an alternative perspective to prior studies that emphasize nature as a character within the narrative of literary works. The central research question guiding this investigation is: "What representations of nature do we find in The Christmas Oratorio and in Lake of Heaven? What is the human perception of and connection to nature in these books?" Employing qualitative content analysis, the study interprets and analyses excerpts from the chosen novels. The findings reveal that nature plays a significant role in the narrative of both works, exhibiting agency and profound interconnection with other characters. In The Christmas Oratorio, nature assumes the role of a character, intricately entwined with human experiences and emotions. Conversely, in Lake of Heaven, nature is imbued with a more spiritual essence, symbolizing the soul and closely linked to human perceptions and experiences. This thesis endeavours to address research gaps by exploring the intricate interplay between humans and nature, as depicted in the selected literary works. Readers can better comprehend the writers' consciousness in the relationship to nature by understanding how they depict this interaction.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze various texts from Japanese literary history and extract the instances of trans-gender performances from those texts. I define “trans-gender” behaviors as actions that are culturally expected of the gender opposite that of the gender assigned to the performer at birth. In each text, I identify which character or characters perform actions that go against the expectations of the gender they were assigned at birth. I analyze how their performance is portrayed within the narrative, as well as how other characters in the narrative react to their performance. In this way, nuances are extracted that relate to the trope of gender play in these four historical eras. The literary representations of this trans-gender play respond to the needs and values systems of the time periods within which they exist. In the Heian period, this play is caused by external forces and ends due to sexual acts. In the Muromachi period, the character chooses to perform, but eventually revokes the world. By the Edo period, performance is more widely accepted and culturally ingrained because of the availability of spaces where trans-gender performance is allowed. The performers in Edo period literature usually perform in the context of receiving privileges or being allowed into gendered spaces. Finally, In the Meiji period, heteronormative gender roles are strictly enforced, and the literature reflects negative reactions to non-normative behavior. Trans-gender performers in the Meiji period are often punished in the narratives they inhabit.

Over the course of the “Genji monogatari” (“The Tale of Genji,” c. 1008) narrative, roughly fifty characters die. The eponymous hero’s arc starts with the passing of his mother and ends as he himself succumbs to grief at being parted from his beloved Murasaki; the subsequent ten chapters of the text are likewise marked by successive personal losses. However, while the “Genji’s” plot is consistently catalyzed through encounters with death, it would be a mistake to say that the tale is about death: instead, it is the highly aestheticized scenes of grief experienced privately and communally by its characters in the aftermath (and sometimes even in the anticipation) of their loved ones’ passing that motivate much of the action and narrative development. My dissertation project aims to analyze the intrinsic affective qualities of “Genji monogatari’s” portrayals of death and mourning. Although the text showcases Murasaki Shikibu’s skillful interweaving of Heian spiritual beliefs, social rituals, and funerary practices with classical literary tropes and the preexisting traditions in elegiac poetry, it also represents a significant departure and innovation vis-à-vis earlier and contemporary depictions of death. For one, it resurrects and reinvents the depiction of the corpse which all but disappeared from courtly literature, and expands the narrated experience of bereavement from the point of view of an isolated principal mourner to that of a larger emotional/affective community. What’s more, the narrative patterns and images it establishes early on continue to evolve over the span of the text itself. The “Genji’s” hallmark death scenes foreground the exquisite bodies of the dying or already dead—and almost exclusively female—subjects, laid out unobstructed to the discerning gaze of the male protagonists. As I will show through a thorough exploration of the poetic vocabulary and affective narrative structuring in situations dealing with grief and sorrow in these scenes, this has the effect of narratively minimizing the moment of death as a descriptive event and instead heralding an affective mode of storytelling that creates communal bonds between the bereaved characters, the narrator(s), and the readers. That said, as the plot progresses, subtle subversive changes start to emerge: the women in the first part of the tale, who remained beautiful but voiceless after frequently meeting sudden ends, give way to characters who anticipate and eventually even will their demise, and whose richer interiority offers insights on their mortality that can counterpoint the ensuing objectifying consumption of their bodies. This development consequently not only brings into question the larger meaning of death retrospectively throughout the entire text, but also allows us to glean Murasaki Shikibu’s own intratextual theorization on the affective and narrative functions of death, in addition to its wider literary potential.

<p dir="ltr">In this thesis, I examine three popular modern Japanese female writers—Takahashi Takako (1932-2013), Ogawa Yōko (1962- ), and Murata Sayaka (1979- ), who all debuted after the peak of Japan’s bubble economy in the late 1980s. Focusing on the works of these three authors, I investigate how they deal with the theme of pregnancy, children, fertility, and family structure, and how they are original in the world of Japanese literature. Since they are all women, in terms of feminist context, I also look into how differently they respond to gender issues from the prior generation of female authors.</p><p dir="ltr">In the Introduction, I begin with an examination of how Japanese society has changed fertility and family structure during the lifetime of women writers, which the author of this thesis aims to depict. Through an analysis of themes such as pregnancy, childbearing, fertility, and family dynamics, these authors offer nuanced reflections on the evolving roles and experiences of Japanese women within the context of a rapidly changing society. Despite their unique literary styles, they share a common interest in challenging traditional notions of womanhood and motherhood, often conflicting with societal pressures.</p><p dir="ltr">In Chapter One, the focus is on Takahashi Takako's narratives, which critique the conventional female trajectory in Japan and the societal pressures surrounding parenthood. In Chapter Two, the examination shifts to Ogawa Yōko's portrayal of female protagonists navigating societal expectations and rejecting traditional paths to womanhood and pregnancy. Finally, Chapter Three delves into Murata Sayaka's exploration of themes related to nonconformity, gender roles, marriage, and the evolving dynamics of Japanese society.</p><p dir="ltr">By analyzing these authors' works, this thesis contributes to a deeper understanding of Japanese women's experiences and societal dynamics, offering insights into contemporary issues of gender, identity, and autonomy in Japan.</p>