When Your Neighbor Is a Bear, your Fiancé – a Dog, and Your Lover – a Tuna. About Human-Nonhuman Encounters in the Works of Kawakami Hiromi, Shono Yoriko and Tawada Yoko. A Critical Posthuman Perspective

• Authors: Beata Kubiak Ho-Chi

Title variants

JA

あなたの隣人が熊、婚約者が犬、そして愛人がマグロなら。川上弘美、笙野頼子、多和田葉子の作品における人間−非人間の出会いをめぐって批判的ポストヒューマンの視点から

Abstracts

JA

本論文では、現代の日本人女性作家のフィクション作品に驚くほど頻繁にみられるテーマである、人間と非人間（特に人間ではない動物）の出会いを取り上げる。川上弘美の短編における主人公達は、新しいアパートに引っ越して人間の隣人を川まで散歩に誘う古風で礼儀正しい熊であり（『神様』1993年）、非人間の生まれと容貌を完全に自覚しながらも人間と共にオフィスで働くモグラ（『鼹鼠』2001年）である。権威ある芥川賞を受賞した川上作品（『蛇を踏む』1996年）に描かれる人物は、日常生活をおくる中で、彼女の母親だと主張し蛇の世界へと誘う一匹の蛇に出会う。一方、他の著名な女性作家で社会的に認められた日本の作家達の間でも評価を受ける多和田葉子と笙野頼子の小説においては、犬（多和田『犬婿入り』1993年）やマグロ（笙野『タイムスリップ。コンビナート』1994年）が、主人公女性の愛する者として登場する。こうした作品において、日本の女性作家は文 化的、言語的、地理的境界のみならず、更に人間中心主義的世界の限界をはるかに超えていく。彼らの作品に向き合うとき、人間と非人間の出会いと親密な関係をめぐる問題は、日本だけでなく現代世界のポストヒューマン的思想を悩ませる問いを、公然と投げかける。つまり、アクタントである人間と非人間、その身体、思考に関する問い、そして人類が生物や非生物といった他の存在と共存する世界における相互関係をめぐる問いである。

EN

The present paper considers encounters between humans and nonhumans (especially nonhuman animals), a theme surprisingly frequent in the fiction works of contemporary Japanese women writers. The main characters of two short stories by Kawakami Hiromi are an old-fashioned, well-bred bear, which moves into a new apartment and invites its human neighbor for a walk to the river (Kamisama, 1993), and a mole which, being perfectly aware of its nonhuman origin and appearance, works with humans in an office (Ugoromochi, 2001). The other character of Kawakami’s work, awarded with the prestigious Akutagawa prize (Hebi o fumu, 1996), meets in her real, everyday life a snake claiming to be her mother and trying to draw her into the world of snakes. In turn, in the novels by other famous women writers, Tawada Yoko and Shono Yoriko, who are counted among the most recognized Japanese authors, we find a dog (Inu mukoiri/The Bridegroom Was a Dog by Tawada, 1993) and a tuna (Time Slip Industrial Complex by Shono, 1994) as lovers of the main female characters. In their works, Japanese women writers transgress not only cultural, linguistic and geographical barriers, but above all, they go far beyond the boundaries in force in the anthropocentric universe. Addressing in their works the issue of encounters and close relationships between humans and nonhumans, they openly provoke questions that concern not only Japan, but also the world’s contemporary posthuman thought: questions about human and nonhuman actants, its body, emotions, thoughts and mutual relations in a world where men coexist with other, animate and inanimate forms of being.

Keywords

EN

japanese women writers; contemporary literature; kawakami hiromi; shono yoriko; tawada yoko; critical posthumanism; nonhuman animals; human-nonhuman encounters; henshintan; irui kon’intan; nomadic subject

JA

日本の女性作家; 現代文学; 川上弘美; 笙野頼子; 多和田葉子; 批判的ポストヒューマン主義; 非人間の動物; 人間−非人間の出会い; 変身譚; 異類婚姻譚; 放浪の主題

• Publisher: Polskie Stowarzyszenie Badań Japonistycznych
• Journal: Analecta Nipponica
• Year: 2018
• Issue: 8
• Pages: 83-96

Dates

published

2018

Contributors

author

Beata Kubiak Ho-Chi

• Uniwersytet Warszawski: Wydział Orientalistyczny

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Identifiers

Biblioteka Nauki

1597296