CHALLENGING THE TRADITIONAL NOTION OF JAPANESE NOVEL: GREEK MYTH IN KURAHASHI YUMIKO’S
CHALLENGING THE TRADITIONAL NOTION OF JAPANESE NOVEL: GREEK MYTH IN KURAHASHI YUMIKO’S

Summary/Abstract: This essay explores the rewriting of the myth of the Amazons in Amanonkoku 􀅮kanki (Record of a Voyage to the Country of Amanon), by Kurahashi Yumiko. Moving from the analysis of the function of myth in Kurahashi’s literary work, this paper investigates how the mythological subtext redefines the boundaries of the traditional Japanese novel and contributes to the construction of Kurahashi’s “anti-world”. In Amanonkoku 􀅮kanki, the myth of the Amazons – the barbarian opposite of Greek civilization – mirrors the reverse side of Japanese reality, exposing its incongruities and questioning the transparency of its language. Moreover, by reverting the traditional archetypes of the Greek hero and the Amazons, the novel plays with the construction of sexual identity and undermines the narrator’s point of view.

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