Ca’ Foscari Japanese Studies

Series | Ca’ Foscari Japanese Studies
Edited book | New Steps in Japanese Studies
Chapter | War Brides as Transnational Subjects in Mori Reiko’s The Town of the Mockingbird

War Brides as Transnational Subjects in Mori Reiko’s The Town of the Mockingbird

Abstract

Mori Reiko’s 1979 Akutagawa prize-winning story The Town of the Mockingbirds portrays a community of Japanese war brides in a small military base town in Midwestern America. The narrative explores how the release from prison of Jun, a war bride imprisoned for killing her son, impacts on the community. Employing Françoise Lionnet and Shu-mei Shih’s theory of “minor transnationalism” this article explores how the protagonist, Keiko, connects with her community across binaristic lines of gender, culture and nation.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: Sept. 8, 2015 | Accepted: Dec. 9, 2016 | Language: en

Keywords ‘Minor Transnationalism’Mori ReikoFrançoise LionnetLanguage HybridityWar BridesTransnational Literature“The Town of the Mockingbirds”Shu-mei Shih


read this chapter