Trajectories of change : Modernity / the woman question / new woman fiction, progressive America (1890-1920) and Meiji Japan (1868-1912)

Khou, Carrie

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URL:	https://madoc.bib.uni-mannheim.de/39804
URN:	urn:nbn:de:bsz:180-madoc-398043
Dokumenttyp:	Dissertation
Erscheinungsjahr:	2015
Ort der Veröffentlichung:	Mannheim
Hochschule:	Universität Mannheim
Gutachter:	Reichardt, Ulfried
Datum der mündl. Prüfung:	9 Juni 2015
Sprache der Veröffentlichung:	Englisch
Einrichtung:	Philosophische Fakultät > Anglistik III - Amerikanische Literatur- u. Kulturwissenschaft (Reichardt 2001-)
Fachgebiet:	810 Englische Literatur Amerikas
Normierte Schlagwörter (SWD):	USA , Japan , Frauenliteratur , Geschichte
Freie Schlagwörter (Englisch):	Progressive America , Meiji Japan , women writers , the New Woman , intercultural exchange , literature , social history
Abstract:	Literary studies have identified and examined cultural manifestations of the New Woman in contexts other than North America but rarely analyze these manifestations in relation to one another. Hence, what is needed in addition to the multinational or multiethnic approach is a relational approach that focuses on the possible connections that exist between the cultural manifestations of the New Woman either within a dominant culture or across national borders. In comparing the narratives by selected American and Japanese women writers, I aim to demonstrate that writers in both contexts described images of the New Woman that were similar and nonetheless tailored to the cultural conventions of their respective countries, using the New Woman as a particular and universal concept. The social and literary articulations analyzed show that readings of the New Woman are culturally diverse and culturally interwoven readings. Moreover, the comparison illustrates how historical, social and literary developments fed into the formation of the New Woman as a transnational template of modern womanhood that Japanese and American writers claimed and adapted to the particularities of their respective cultures.