Date of Award
7-10-2024
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Degree Type
Dissertation
Abstract
This dissertation implements affective modes of thick and messy reading practices toward the understanding and analysis of unglamorous literatures originating in Japanese online literary production. The period of study begins with the cellphone novel in the early 2000s and follows the flows of online literary production through the mid-2010s as changes in socio-historical circumstances and technological developments impacted and transformed these literatures. Within this dissertation I contend that we must take into account more quotidian motives for reading—escape, self-soothing, commercial enterprise—especially as they pertain to pop literatures such as cellphone novels, Twitter novels, and Twitter poetry. At the same time, we must also keep in mind the larger systems of power which interact with, affect, and are affected by these literary booms so that we may better conceive how culture reacts to and generates itself in the popular imagination. The first chapter traces the history of the literatures and technologies that informed the rise of the cellphone novel and then turns to two major players within the cellphone novel boom—Mika and Naitо̄ Mika—to consider how they construct affective realities for their readers and how their readers in turn inform those constructions as their work spreads across the internet. The second chapter follows Naitо̄ Mika through her transition to Twitter and considers her role as the “originator” of the #twnovel, a trendy literary tag that went viral on Japanese Twitter in 2009 and again in 2011 in the wake of the March triple disasters of earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown in Japan’s Tohoku region. In this chapter, I trace literary production as novelty and literary production as means of self-soothing, relating the ambiguities of the ways these literatures inform writing practices in novel media. The third chapter turns to poet Wagо̄ Ryо̄ichi, a Tohoku native who skyrocketed to national fame as he wrote a poetic response to the triple disasters from where he sheltered in place in Fukushima. Sometimes critiqued as simplistic and cliché, I consider what the literary functions of clichéd affect might be for Wagо̄ as he grapples with and attempts to write disaster as it unfolds. I also consider how these affective blooms can be utilized by reading audiences in modes that are benign, harmful, or helpful, and how Wagо̄ in turn responds to these readings, incorporating the polyvocality of Fukushima into his own work. The fourth chapter turns to poet Saihate Tahi, who rose to fame via Twitter and now acts as a media influencer through her poetry-branded art installations, brand deals, and collectible goods. I grapple with the notions of what poetry is and does and consider the way Saihate’s performance of girlhood invites nihilistic narcissism even as it problematizes the institutions of love, romance, and eros that saturate girls’ media. I also relate Saihate’s poetic production to larger technological changes and social changes on the Twitter platform and consider how social media allows the blurring of medium and message into a single unit. In the brief conclusion, I discuss the ways online literary production has been incorporated into preexisting publishing structures and point toward future roads of inquiry, including the translation of affect across national and linguistic borders, the material aspects of digital literary studies, and the possibilities of new modes of reading heterogenous and disparate texts as they collapse and interact on one technological interface.
Language
English (en)
Chair and Committee
Rebecca Copeland
Committee Members
Anca Parvulescu; Jamie Newhard; Ji-Eun Lee; Marvin Marcus
Recommended Citation
Taylor, Laurel Ann, "Moved: Affective Blooms in Online Japanese Literary Media" (2024). Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3324.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/art_sci_etds/3324