On The "family" In Modern Japanese Literature

Having experienced three historical periods—Meiji, Taisho, and Showa, "families" in modern Japanese literature now enter the current period of Heisei. Japanese modern literature has gone through more than a hundred years. The period witnessed successively the Meiji's imitation movement of the west, the two world wars, postwar democratic movement, the decline of the patriarchy, and the women's liberation movement, etc. Economically, Japan has undergone the feudalistic economy, the imperialist war monopoly, high-speed economic development as well as the post-industrial era in the 1970s. In terms of literature, Japan experienced all sorts of western literary theory and literary genre of introduction and absorption, the postwar literature development, and the current literature to recession. With the historical events and movement, the literature of "family" has experienced various changes..At the end of the 19th century, after the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, with the popularization of capitalism in Japan, the "clan" that had carried on for hundreds of year broke up, and the "family" emerged during the period. The literary works of this time were under the influence of the disintegration of the families. At the beginning of the 20th century, the family of the Taisho Period novel depicts various conflicts in the family, while the essence is the question of the traditional patriarchalism, and the manifestation of differences in terms of attitudes towards family, capitalist economic views, and values between two generations. In the postwar literature represented by the "third generation" writers, the family novels enjoyed unprecedented popularity accompanied with social and economic development, the decline of the patriarchalism and the upsurge of the feminist movement. Family relations shift, from the past to the longitudinal relationship typical in the past, into the importance of husband and wife (men and women) horizontally. The protagonist of the family novel changes from father or son to husband or wife. Works depicting vividly the embarrassing images of husbands and wifes in Japanese family between 1950s & 1960s, showing the image of economic development in Japan, contain the various conflicts within the family, the poverty and people's thinking. Its purpose is to make clear democratic life, relationship between husband and wife and happy family relationships. During the 1970s and 1980s, in the works of "the introverted generation" and murakamiharuki, yumiri, nakagamikenji, tusimayuko, of "family" became vulnerable,, children showed low degree of trust towards their parents, and contradictions and conflicts between two generations appeared again.Among Japanese scholars, no one has made a systematic examinaiton of the modern famlily noverls since the Meiji Period, which is beyond the present author's capability too. The present author just chose one, or two novels typical of each historical period, attempted to outline of Japanese "family" literature of the development process and the future development trend, summarized its literary characteristics in accordance with the development characteristics of each historical period..Although there bound to be some fictitious elements and exaggerarion, one hundred years of "family" literature basically reflect the reality and the change of modern Japanese families. Because "family" appeared in literary works of various periods, it is universal and continuous, In this sense, the Japanese modern literature is the expression "family" and "family" of literature, and modern "family" literature is Japan, modern literature. Therefore, the characteristics of "family" literature, such as "literature" and "private" novels of Japanese literature are the main characteristics of modern Japanese literature. Although there is little that is comic in the Japanese "family" literature over the past one hundred years, there is no lack of criticism of the patriarchy and the advocation of women's liberation and equality in the works concerned. We can see the wishes and thoughts hidden behind the works, such as the longing for the return of "patriarchy", the perplexity over women's liberation, etc. In a man-centered Japanese society, "family" literature will no doubt develop in regression and perplexity in the future.