Constructing a New Girl in Meiji Japan: The Japanese Translation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s Sara Crewe

Abstract

This article examines the earliest Japanese translation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s Sara Crewe, Or, What Happened at Miss Minchin’s (1888), to illuminate how Shizuko Wakamatsu (1864–1892), one of the first Japanese female translators, constructed a girl’s complex psychology with her unique narrative techniques and innovative linguistic styles. By adding new layers to a girl’s inner voice, Wakamatsu presented how the translation of Burnett’s story played a vital role in paving the way for the development of Japanese girls’ fiction in the Meiji period (1868–1912). Wakamatsu’s translation thus created a new literary arena in which young female readers could nurture their imagination and experience a sense of agency by reading stories about a character whom they could relate to.