be warned - this is the 'rough cut' thesis, so all you beta people out there that don't like the phrasing, it *will* change.
Barbara Hartley explains, in "Writing the Body of the Mother: Narrative Moments in Tsushima Uuko, Ariyoshi Sawako and Enchi Fumiko", that feminist criticism about Japan has largely ignored the “mother”. She goes on to argue that, although criticism has ignored it, the texts she discusses in her paper are actively engaged in representing the corporeal existence of motherhood as a powerful transformative process.
I would like to extend her theory one further step, suggesting that, in Kono Taeko’s “Ants Swarm”, Enchi Fumiko’s Masks, Takashi Taeko’s “Congruent Figures” and Hayashi Fumiko’s “Narcissus”, the representations of mother, not just in a corporeal expression of motherhood but inherent in the role itself, are also engaged in this transformative process, and are the most powerful female agents for change and disruption.
The depiction of mother in these stories is both compelling and powerful, although not necessarily comforting. However disturbing this conception of a complex and often mean or vindictive construction of mother is, this paper will discuss exactly how those constructed mothers are able to exert more power and influence over their lives and the lives of their children, and explore the ways those strategies for power suggest an a revision of the ideal of a supportive but powerless mother, transforming her into the most powerful feminine role.
And, my boy is back, safely ensconsed in the house on the couch with his kitty by his side and his parents on the phone. It's not like I forgot him in a week (especially since we talked every night) but I missed his physical presence. And just missed *him*. There are things you don't talk to eachother about when you're on the phone... forget to mention, you know, all of that.
All seems right with the world. Sure I haven't done as much reading for tomorrow's classes as I ought (but hey, I had a paper to write), sure I need to study for a quiz on tuesday and another test on Friday (yes, I've had a test every two weeks since the beginning of February), but I'm now going to curl up next to a handsome man and enjoy being done.
