A significant portion of Tsushima Yūko’s body of work, particularly her early novels that brought her fame – Chōji (Child of Fortune, 1978), Hikari no ryōbun (Territory of Light, 1979), Yama o hashiru onna (The Woman Running on the Mountain, 1980), and Danmari ichi (The Silent Traders, 1984) -- while incorporating easily recognisable autobiographical elements, extends the discourse beyond the realm of the ‘private novel’. These works delve into an examination of the paths women (not only Japanese) are compelled to traverse when rejecting the conformity enforced by a social environment that still clings to models that not even the second wave of feminism of the 1970s and 1980s managed to overcome. The protagonists are predominantly solitary women, driven by a desire to break free from the ‘obligation’ of forming a family, which remains a deeply conditioning necessity. They are keenly aware of the unspoken disapproval directed at divorced women who do not conform to the confines of their original households. Overlapping with this is a resolute yearning for psychological and social independence, a pursuit fraught with challenges yet pursued tenaciously. Within these narratives, Tsushima Yūko not only draws inspiration from her personal experiences but also expands upon the image of that central ‘self’ – the core of the story. She diversifies their experiences beyond the foundational substance and, most importantly, leaves room for imagination in the dual dimensions of individual dreams and the collective fantasy expressed through myths and legends.
Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Titolo del capitolo
Donne che corrono sulla montagna. I primi romanzi di Tsushima Yūko (1947-2016)
Autori
Maria Teresa Orsi
Lingua
Italian
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0422-4.18
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Anno di pubblicazione
2024
Copyright
© 2024 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Titolo del libro
Il dono dell’airone
Sottotitolo del libro
Scritti in onore di Ikuko Sagiyama
Curatori
Luca Capponcelli, Diego Cucinelli, Chiara Ghidini, Matilde Mastrangelo, Rolando Minuti
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Numero di pagine
390
Anno di pubblicazione
2024
Copyright
© 2024 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Editore
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0422-4
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0421-7
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0422-4
Collana
Connessioni. Studies in Transcultural History
ISSN della collana
2975-0393
e-ISSN della collana
2975-0261