| Publication |
2009.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Matsuura Hisaki's novel Hant?[Peninsula] contains a highly saturated critical and poetic space, allowing us to probe the boundaries of Japan's periphery and the limits of the experience of interiority. An analysis of the structure and the narrative devices of the novel leads to the creation of a spatial model conceptualizing the idea of 'peninsula' as an existential and literary trope. The 'peninsula' is also a reversible notion combining the narrative of a private experience of seclusion with critical commitment for reconsidering modern Japan's cartography.
* 1Earlier versions of this essay were presented at the graduate seminar of Prof. Kawamura Minato (H?sei University, 12 June 2008) and the Cultural Typhoon (Sendai, 28 June 2008). I am grateful to Prof. Kawamura for his valuable suggestions, to Prof. Matsuura Hisaki for an interesting discussion (June 2008) and to the anonymous readers of Japanese Studies for constructive feedback.
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