Movement and Suspension：A Stylistic Study of Rībi Hideo’s Novels

FUJIWARA, Dan

doi:2022.15.1.145

The Journal of Japanese Language Literature Studies > Volume 15(1); 2022 > Article

Article

Border Crossings: The Journal of Japanese-Language Literature Studies 2022;15(1): 145-162.
doi: https://doi.org/10.22628/bcjjl.2022.15.1.145

Movement and Suspension：A Stylistic Study of Rībi Hideo’s Novels

Dan FUJIWARA

Associate Professor, Université de Toulouse – Jean Jaurès / Research Fellow, Institut français de recherche sur l’Asie de l’Est

移動と中断 ―― リービ英雄小説作品の文体論のために

藤原団

トゥールーズ＝ジャン·ジョレス大学外国語·外国文学学部日本語学科准教授、フランス東アジア研究所(IFRAE)研究員。現代日本文学、越境文学、日本語文学、震災後文学、物語論。

Correspondence Dan FUJIWARA ,Email: dan.fujiwara@univ-tlse2.fr

Published online: 30 December 2022.

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

Since the early 1990s literary works that critics would later call “border-crossing literature” (ekkyō bungaku) have emerged on the Japanese literary scene. These works, which are primarily characterized by being written in Japanese by non-native authors, have to-date tended to challenge the concept of “Japanese literature”. A number of studies have explored this very issue in taking into account some similarity with literary genres such as the “Japanese literature of Korean residents in Japan” (Zainichi chōsenjin bungaku). It should be noted, however, that today’s border-crossing writers use Japanese language for personal—or even esthetic—reason unlike postcolonial writers who could not have any other option than writing in their colonizer’s language. In that respect, what seems necessary today is also an analysis that takes a closer look at how today’s border-crossing writers write in Japanese language, namely their writing style. This paper adopts this approach in dealing with Rībi Hideo’s novels, with a particular focus on the fact that most of them feature the theme of a form of travel which is not characterized by the idea of free-flowing movement. By analyzing some relevant examples, I show how this American author develops his original writing style, which is central to his narratives.

Keywords: Rībi Hideo, writing style, border-crossing literature , movement, Japanese language

キ―ワ―ド: リービ英雄, 文体, 越境文学, 移動, 日本語