A sense of (dis)continuity: Searching for novelistic expression in Meiji fiction

"East-Asian and Central-European Encounters in Discourse Analysis and Translation", Edited by: Anna Duszak, Arkadiusz Jabłoński and Agnieszka Leńko-Szymańska, pp. 105-126.

The article focuses on new developments in Meiji literature in response to the tension existing between the spoken and the written narrative styles. It points to the tradition of gesaku bungku popular fiction, the influence of foreign novels and the practice of translating literary texts into Japanese as important factors shaping novelistic language and narrative strategies. The analysis includes the texts of San’yūtei Enchō’s Kaidan Botan Dōrō (The Strange Tale of Peony Lantern, 1884-1885), Futabatei Shimei’s Ukigumo (Floating Clouds, 1887-1889), Mori Ōgai’s Maihime (Dancing Girl, 1890) and Higuchi Ichiyō’s Takekurabe (Growing up/Child’s Play, 1895-1896).