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| Discovery and Redemption of Empty-Shell Women: A Reading of Kakuta Mitsuyo's Novels-Centering on her Bestseller The Eighth Day Cicada |
| Tong Xiaowei |
| School of Foreign Languages, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518060 |
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Abstract Kakuta Mitstuyo is one of the most important contemporary Japanese woman writers. (She was awarded Naoki Award for literature in 2005.) Kakuta Mitsuyo has portrayed a type of characters which she refers to as the "empty-shell." Without career, these people have no definite goals in their lives; they flatly reject the
prevalent values; yet they lack the sense of being and identity. Kakuta discovered these people and attempts to uncover the veils of their harmonious families and society in order to reveal their real lives which are fraught with tensions and conflicts. The contemporary model of social operation is thus brought to question. Her best-seller The Eighth Day Cicada is undeniably pleasing. Yet her concern is still with giving the empty-shell women warmth and the hope of salvation.
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Received: 12 March 2014
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2015, Vol. 32 
