Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature
- The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Contributors
- Book part
- A note on Romanization and conventions
- Glossary
- General introduction
- Part I The ancient period (beginnings to 794)
- Part II The Heian period (794–1185)
- Part III The medieval period (1185–1600)
- Part IV The Edo period (1600–1867)
- Part V The modern period (1868 to present)
- 56 Introduction: nation building, literary culture, and language
- 57 Kanshibun in the Meiji period and beyond
- 58 Translated fiction, political fiction
- 59 Newspaper serials in the late nineteenth century
- 60 Translation, vernacular style, and the Westernesque femme fatale in modern Japanese literature
- 61 The rise of modern women’s literature
- 62 Melodrama, family romance, and the novel at the turn of the century
- 63 Modern Japanese poetry to the 1910s
- 64 Between the Western and the traditional: Mori Ōgai, Nagai Kafū, and Tanizaki Jun’ichirō
- 65 Natsume Sōseki and the theory and practice of literature
- 66 A new era of women writers
- 67 Literary marketplace, politics, and history: 1900s–1940s
- 68 Canonization and popularization: anthologies and literary prizes
- 69 Colonialism, translation, literature: Takahama Kyoshi’s passage to Korea
- 70 Primitivism and imperial literature of Taiwan and the South Seas
- 71 From empire to nation: the spatial imaginary of the 1920s to early 1950s
- 72 Japanese literature and cinema from the 1910s to the 1950s
- 73 Modern drama
- 74 Modern poetry: 1910s to the postwar period
- 75 Trends in postwar literature, 1945–1970s
- 76 Women’s fiction in the postwar era
- 77 The emergence of girls’ manga and girls’ culture
- 78 Modern Japanese literature from Okinawa
- 79 Postwar Zainichi writings: politics, language, and identity
- 80 Contemporary Japanese fiction
- Bibliography of English secondary sources and translations
- Index
62 - Melodrama, family romance, and the novel at the turn of the century
from Part V - The modern period (1868 to present)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 January 2016
By
Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature
- The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Contributors
- Book part
- A note on Romanization and conventions
- Glossary
- General introduction
- Part I The ancient period (beginnings to 794)
- Part II The Heian period (794–1185)
- Part III The medieval period (1185–1600)
- Part IV The Edo period (1600–1867)
- Part V The modern period (1868 to present)
- 56 Introduction: nation building, literary culture, and language
- 57 Kanshibun in the Meiji period and beyond
- 58 Translated fiction, political fiction
- 59 Newspaper serials in the late nineteenth century
- 60 Translation, vernacular style, and the Westernesque femme fatale in modern Japanese literature
- 61 The rise of modern women’s literature
- 62 Melodrama, family romance, and the novel at the turn of the century
- 63 Modern Japanese poetry to the 1910s
- 64 Between the Western and the traditional: Mori Ōgai, Nagai Kafū, and Tanizaki Jun’ichirō
- 65 Natsume Sōseki and the theory and practice of literature
- 66 A new era of women writers
- 67 Literary marketplace, politics, and history: 1900s–1940s
- 68 Canonization and popularization: anthologies and literary prizes
- 69 Colonialism, translation, literature: Takahama Kyoshi’s passage to Korea
- 70 Primitivism and imperial literature of Taiwan and the South Seas
- 71 From empire to nation: the spatial imaginary of the 1920s to early 1950s
- 72 Japanese literature and cinema from the 1910s to the 1950s
- 73 Modern drama
- 74 Modern poetry: 1910s to the postwar period
- 75 Trends in postwar literature, 1945–1970s
- 76 Women’s fiction in the postwar era
- 77 The emergence of girls’ manga and girls’ culture
- 78 Modern Japanese literature from Okinawa
- 79 Postwar Zainichi writings: politics, language, and identity
- 80 Contemporary Japanese fiction
- Bibliography of English secondary sources and translations
- Index
Summary
Meiji melodramatic novels achieved unmatched social penetration by riding the wave of Meiji print capitalism. This chapter discusses the two major novels: First, Konjiki yasha, the blockbuster novel by Ozaki Koyo that stands as the definitive example of the form, appeared in the Yomiuri shinbun between 1897 and 1902. Second, Onna keizu, by Izumi Kyoka, was carried by Yamato shinbun in 1908. The family constituted the thematic center of Meiji melodramatic fiction for specific historical reasons. At the turn of the twentieth century, immense ideological forces were focused on the family, which the Meiji state and its propagandists sought to employ as an instrument for social stability amidst the disruptions of modernity. Japanese scholars have had difficulty positioning melodramatic fiction within modern literary history. The powerful presence of melodramatic fiction at the turn of the twentieth century and the audience it continued to hold in adapted forms call for a better accounting of its historical position.
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- The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature , pp. 605 - 612Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2015