Women’s fiction in the postwar era

Abstract

The Meiji Restoration of 1868 inspired a variety of social, political, and religious reforms. Women were a major target of reform. Prose fiction by women writers in the modern period is acknowledged to have begun with Miyake Kaho and her 1888 novella Warbler in the Grove. Most women writers of the Meiji period grounded their fiction in their own personal realm. Few had the imaginative vision of Kimura Akebono and most were hesitant to peer beyond the confines of their own experience. Wakamatsu Shizuko is remembered for Shokoshi, her translation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's Little Lord Fauntleroy. Shizuko's translation is important not only for introducing readers to literature for children, but also for forging a path to genbun-itchi or a modern literary vernacular. From feminist orator to cloistered daughter, Meiji women writers hailed from diverse backgrounds and made their mark in an impressive assortment of genres and styles: romantic poetry, political essays, kabuki dramas, novellas, and stories.