A dealer in memories: The fiction and essays of Koda Aya.

Abstract

A central concern in the works of Koda Aya (1904-1990), a distinguished Japanese woman author of essays, short stories, and novels, is the nature of memory and the significance of the past. This dissertation examines the ways Koda's approach to structure, character, imagery, and narrative voice reflects this interest in time and recollection. Koda's portrayal of female characters whose mature, positive outlook is rooted in a firm understanding of their relationship with the past contrasts with the emphases of many of Koda's literary contemporaries in postwar Japan. Chapter I defines memory and recollection as central thematic and formal concerns of Koda's writings and discusses the uses of memory and the past in Japanese literature. Koda's work "Kakera" (A Fragment, 1947) is an early example of these interests. The chapter includes a brief biography of Koda and a discussion of her relationship with her father, renowned author Koda Rohan (1867-1947). Chapter II discusses the beginnings of Koda's literary career as her father's biographer. The short works "Kunsho" (The Medal, 1947) and "Kuroi suso" (The Black Kimono, 1955) represent Koda's departure from biography, as she turns to explorations of the connection between memory and self-identity. Chapter III examines "Hina" (Dolls for a Special Day, 1955) and "Mono iwanu issho no tomo" (A Friend for Life, 1966). These works exhibit a belief in the importance of the individual's links to aspects of the cultural past, such as traditional Japanese aesthetics and the Confucian emphasis on the investigation of the nature of things (kakubutsu chichi), advocated by Rohan. Chapter IV is a study of the well-known novel Nagareru (Flowing, 1955). Koda explores the survival of aesthetic elements from the past in the crassly materialistic, oppressive world of the postwar geisha. Chapter V examines Ototo (Little Brother, 1956), a novel about a troubled family in prewar Japan. One of Koda's best-known works, Ototo ultimately disappoints because Koda unsuccessfully experiments with style and technique in her effort to move away from the past and remembrance as central concerns. The appendix contains translations of four works: "Kakera," "Kunsho," "Hina," and "Mono iwanu issho no tomo.".