Construcția unei identități feminine japoneze scindate în context canadian
The Construction of a Japanese Feminine Identity în Canadian Context

Summary/Abstract: At the beginning of the Meiji Era, Japan underwent a process of extensive modernization. Preeminent writers’ works were imported and translated into Japanese to serve as models for the new society that was envisioned as the future Japan. The presence of realism, objectivism and the protagonists’ adherence to social norms were deciding factors as to whether a literary work was adopted as such or not. Jane Austen’s emphasis on behavioural codes resonates with the Japanese proclivity to adhere to strict rules of conduct. As a result, authors such as Lafcadio Hearn and Natsume Soseki will make efforts to familiarize the Japanese readership with her work. The influence of “Pride and Prejudice” will prompt Yaeko Nogami to write her liberal-minded heroine, Machiko, in Elizabeth Bennett’s image, to underline the social changes inherent to the Meiji mentality. Both female protagonists reflect proto-feminist challenges to the existing models of femininity in conservative social contexts.

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