다와다 요코(多和田葉子)의 『발꿈치를 잃고(かかとを失くして)』 연구 1 - 이방인의 현실인식과 국제결혼의 역사적 흐름을 중심으로 -

Abstract

The narrator in Missing heels written by Yōko Tawada, who made a splendid debut as a bilingual writer with her novel and poetry in Germany before her work was released in Japan, arrives at an unfamiliar Central station unlike her debut in spotlight and falls on a ground upon arrival, which shows the author's perception of reality as a stranger. The narrator in Missing heels which is Tawada's debut in Japan feels anxious and alienated coming from her lack of understanding of inhabitant since she moved transnationally to where the culture and language were different from her own. The title of Missing heels is represented of her situation. The reason behind the narrator's migration is due to a paper marriage as a form of international marriage and we are going to look into the trends of international marriages from the early 20th century to the 1990s focusing on Japanese history, including Picture Brides, Military Brides and Rural Brides in order to understand her situation better. The narrator thinks the local children called her as a traveling squid. From this, we can see that she is identified with her husband who has never appeared until the dead body of squid is found in the last scene and we assume that her husband is also like a stranger who cannot share the culture with other residents just as the narrator who became a stranger through emigration.