ABSTRACT
YOSHIAKI OTTA
Homoerotic Solutions: Colonial Queer Desire and Postwar Sexual Politics in Ōta Ryōhaku’s “Kurodaiya” (1949)
This article examines “Kurodaiya” (Black diamonds, 1949), a work by the pioneering postwar Okinawan writer Ōta Ryōhaku (1918–2002), by focusing on the narrator’s homoerotic desire for a young Indonesian revolutionary. Arguing against the canonical reading that posits “Kurodaiya” as a projection of the author’s wish for Okinawa’s independence, it reveals how the narrator’s desire functions as a solution to the gender-related crisis posed by postwar sexual politics.
Volume 49, Number 1 (Winter 2023)
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