Gender and national literature : Heian texts in the constructions of Japanese modernity / Tomiko Yoda.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Yoda, Tomiko.

Series:

Asia-Pacific

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Japanese literature--Heian period, 794-1185--Women authors--History and criticism.

Japanese literature.

Feminism and literature--Japan.

Feminism and literature.

Feminist literary criticism--Japan.

Feminist literary criticism.

Japanese literature--Heian period--Women authors.

Japanese literature--Heian period.

Japan.

Physical Description:

xvi, 277 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Durham [N.C.] : Duke University Press, 2004.

Summary:

Boldly challenging traditional understandings of Heian literature, Tomiko Yoda reveals the connections between gender, nationalism, and cultural representation evident in prevailing interpretations of classic texts of the Heian period (794-1192). Yoda historicizes claims about the inherent femininity of Heian literature by revisiting key moments in the history of Japanese literary scholarship from the eighteenth century to the present. She argues that by foregrounding women's voices in Heian literature, the discipline has repeatedly enacted the problematic modernizing gesture in which the "feminine" is recognized, canceled, and then contained within a national framework articulated in masculine terms. Moving back and forth between a critique of modern discourses on Heian literature and close analyses of the Heian texts themselves, Yoda sheds light on some of the most persistent interpretive models underwriting Japanese literary studies. She proposes new directions for disciplinary critique and suggests that historicized understandings of premodern texts offer significant insights into contemporary feminist theories of subjectivity and agency.

Contents:

1. The Feminization of Heian and Eighteenth-Century Poetics 25

2. Gender and the Nationalization of Literature 41

3. Women and the Emergence of Heian Kana Writing 81

4. Politics and Poetics in The Tale of Genji 111

5. Tokieda's Imperial Subject and the Textual Turn in Heian Literary Studies 146

6. Gender and Heian Narrative Form 182

Epilogue: Heian Texts and Feminist Subjects 214.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [261]-268) and index.

ISBN:

082233187X

082233237X

OCLC:

52495536