嫉妬心学と恍惚としての認識 : 津島佑子の短編「菊虫」

This essay analyzes the story "Kikumushi" (The Chrysanthemum Beetle) by the noted woman writer Tsushima Yūko (b. 1947). Though most Japanese critics claim that Tsushima\u27s writings have a narrow focus, revolving around a few, readily identifiable "themes" and "motifs" such as the brother-sister incest, the marginalization of single mothers and their children in contemporary Japanese society, the meaninglessness and absurdity of family ties/blood relationships and the various ways in which lonely, defiant women challenge traditional discourses on motherhood and female sexuality, "Kikumushi" demonstrates that Tsushima\u27s texts not only display a complex narrative structure, but articulate critiques that transcend the Japanese context and raise important questions for feminist cross-cultural analyses. By contrasting "Kikumushi" with the sarayashiki (Manor-of-the-Dishes) tradition which significantly structures Tsushima\u27s narrative, by bringing several theoretical perspectives to bear on, and especially by highlighting the play of fantasy in the story, this study shows that, in the face of a non-anthropocentric, continually shifting mythical discursive space such as that envisioned by Tsushima our habitual interpretive strategies--even the most "subversive" and "politically correct" ones--are largely inadequate and that a new critical discourse has to be invented