Richardson, Alexandra
(2018)
THE DYNAMICS OF A DUO: PERCEPTIONS AND REFLECTIONS OF GENDER, NATIONALITY, AND IDENTITY IN YAMAMURA MISA.
Master's Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
Writing throughout the 1970s and 80s, Japanese detective author Yamamura Misa represents an important transitional moment in the renaissance of female detective writers. Her works anticipate progressive ideas of gender and the critical power of detective fiction found in later authors such as Miyabe Miyuki and Kirino Natuso. Yamamura uses an American protagonist in her Katherine series to examine how the rhetoric of nihonjinron is consciously applied and unconsciously absorbed both within literature and by those who consume it. By examining how characters use social norms to manipulate one another, Yamamura encourages the reader to consider how nationalistic and sexists ideologies operate unseen in Japanese society, and she offers particular insight into shifting Japanese social norms during an era of increasing globalization and cultural influence. I discuss how Yamamura's depictions of an American girl in Japan encourage readers to justify and perhaps modify their own perceptions of gender and nationality on both sides of the Pacific, and demonstrate that Yamamura represents a generation of female detective authors that have the potential to expand our understanding of the development of Japanese detective fiction as a whole.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
| Creators | Email | Pitt Username | ORCID  |
|---|
| Richardson, Alexandra | ASR66@pitt.edu | ASR66 | |
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| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
13 June 2018 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
9 April 2018 |
| Approval Date: |
13 June 2018 |
| Submission Date: |
12 April 2018 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Number of Pages: |
47 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > East Asian Studies |
| Degree: |
MA - Master of Arts |
| Thesis Type: |
Master's Thesis |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Yamamura Misa, nihonjinron, detective fiction, Japan, postwar, social norms, Katherine series, Katherine Turner, Miyabe Miyuki, gender, nationality, identity |
| Date Deposited: |
13 Jun 2018 18:30 |
| Last Modified: |
13 Jun 2018 18:30 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/34282 |
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