Yone Noguchi’s Impersonation in “The American Diary of a Japanese Girl”

Elaine Wong

doi:10.22363/2618-897x-2019-16-4-580-594

Abstract

The first Japanese person known to write and publish an American novel, Yone Noguchi disguises as a Japanese female diarist to counter the orientalist representations of Japanese cultural and feminine images in early twentieth-century United States. His impersonation in “The American Diary of a Japanese Girl”, however, results in a conflicting androgynous voice in which the male competes with the female, as well as in a number of contradictions that compromise characterization and plot development. Situating Noguchi in cultural and historical contexts, this essay examines his identity and reception as a translingual writer of English, and the contradictions found in the novel.

Highlights

The story behind the publication of Yone Noguchi’s “The American Diary of a Japanese Girl”—“[t]he first American novel by a writer of Japanese ancestry”—is perhaps as curious as the text itself [1
When “The American Diary of a Japanese Girl” was published as a serial in “Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly” in November 1901, there was a line below the title, “With Illustrations by Genjiro Yetto” [2
The book form of the text, which appeared in October 1902, had Miss Morning Glory as the author [1]

Summary

Research Article

The first Japanese person known to write and publish an American novel, Yone Noguchi disguises as a Japanese female diarist to counter the orientalist representations of Japanese cultural and feminine images in early twentieth-century United States. His impersonation in “The American Diary of a Japanese Girl”, results in a conflicting androgynous voice in which the male competes with the female, as well as in a number of contradictions that compromise characterization and plot development. Situating Noguchi in cultural and historical contexts, this essay examines his identity and reception as a translingual writer of English, and the contradictions found in the novel

Introduction

Discussion

Conclusion

Элейн Вонг