Symbolization of Shonan's Woman: Yagi Yoshinori's

JUAN, Uen-Ia

doi:2018.7.1.31

The Journal of Japanese Language Literature Studies > Volume 7(1); 2018 > Article

Special Issue: Southeast Asia and Japanese-Language Literature

Border Crossings: The Journal of Japanese-Language Literature Studies 2018;7(1): 31-43.
doi: https://doi.org/10.22628/bcjjl.2018.7.1.31

Symbolization of Shonan's Woman: Yagi Yoshinori's "Woman" Research

Uen-Ia JUAN

東呉大学日本語文学系副教授

｢昭南｣の女の記号性

Correspondence Uen-Ia JUAN ,Email: wenyaa75@gmail.com

Published online: 30 December 2018.

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

ABSTRACT

Woman is a novel by Yoshinori Yagi published in Shincho in May 1956, has been overlooked in the field of literary research. Written from third-person perspective and set in Singapore during WWII, Woman tells the story of Sugi, a Japanese reporter, recollecting to A-Ing his experiences as a wartime correspondent. A-Ing is a Chinese woman who migrated to Singapore during the war as a so-called new immigrant. The purposes of this study are twofold. First, I aim to explore how representations of a vibrant Singaporean woman supporting a lethargic man are formed in the novel. Second, I investigate whether this characterization goes beyond the individual case to form a symbolization of women in Singapore during WWII.

Keywords: Yoshinori Yagi, Shonan, Japanese Military Administration Department, Wartime in Singapore

キ―ワ―ド: 八木義徳, 昭南, 日本軍政下, 戦時下のシンガポール