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.
Submitted: Sept. 8, 2015 | Accepted: Dec. 9, 2016 | Language: en
Keywords Transnational Literature • Shu-mei Shih • ‘Minor Transnationalism’ • Mori Reiko • Language Hybridity • Françoise Lionnet • War Brides • “The Town of the Mockingbirds”
Copyright © 2017 Linda Flores. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.14277/6969-152-2/CFJS-5-1
