Miyamoto Yuriko

the trajectory of a female self in Japanese history

Abstract

The watakushi shōsetsu, or shishōsetsu — translated as I novel or narrative of the self — is a term used to classify many literary works written in Japan, especially those from the first half of the 20th, it brings together the most diverse types of texts under its name as long as the subject dealt with in them can be associated with reality, understood as the experiences lived by its author. This article deals with the trajectory of the Japanese writer Miyamoto Yuriko (1899-1951) in whose work political engagement and efforts to denounce the female condition in Japanese society play a central role, and examines the extent to which her writing, in which many autobiographical elements are present, would be further or closer to the notion of watakushi shōsetsu.