The Journal of Japanese Studies

Established in 1974, the Journal of Japanese Studies features original, analytically rigorous articles from across the humanities and social sciences, including comparative and transnational scholarship in which Japan plays a major part

Cornyetz 47:2

NINA CORNYETZ
Heterosexualizing the Bishōnen: Ambivalence in Izumi Kyōka’s Yōken kibun

This article has a twofold trajectory. First, it analyzes how the narration strategies of Izumi Kyōka’s Yōken kibun (The tale of the enchanted sword, 1920) enfold a premodern set of anecdotes within a modern narrative framework. As I describe in some detail, this narrative logic results in an oscillation between premodern and modern literary norms. Second, it shows how Kyōka’s specific use of the bishōnen (beautiful boy) trope functions semiotically to emphasize that oscillation.

Volume 47, Number 2 (Summer 2021)
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