Abstract
This dissertation explores transborder contacts between Japan and France and how they have influenced and inspired modern Japanese women writers. Works by Takahashi Takako (1932–2013), Ogino Anna (b. 1956), and Kanehara Hitomi (b. 1983) provide salient examples of both the breadth and limitations of the umbrella term transborder literature but also highlight the porous boundaries of national literatures. They present spaces of encounter for cultural, linguistic, and stylistic exchanges that go beyond simple romantic depictions of an imagined and exoticized France. This study engages in close readings of texts situated at the intersection of literary studies, multilingual studies, and travel literature studies. Through analysis of these authors’ cultural, linguistic, and stylistic inclusions, I highlight how France, and their perceptions of it, shape their works. I argue their writings should also be considered transborder literature despite falling outside of the traditional examples of transborder works, such as non-native writers who write in Japanese. First, I discuss France in the imagination of Japanese writers historically, then move on to my understanding of transborder literature, before starting my three case studies. I explore the way Takahashi’s creative fiction seeks a place to which she can finally belong and how she presents France in many of her works as a locus of possibility for religious fulfillment. Next, I argue that Ogino turned to France to come to terms with her own bi-racial parentage, as her largely absent father was French-American. In my last chapter, I examine the way Kanehara retreated to France after Japan’s nuclear disaster in 2011, in the hopes of finding security for herself and her children, but was instead confronted by her own lingering traumatic vision that she superimposed onto her description of her life in Paris. I use the example of Kanehara to provide boundaries and limitations to my framework of transborder literature.
Committee Chair
Rebecca Copeland
Committee Members
Anca Parvulescu; Jamie Newhard; Marvin Marcus; Nancy Berg
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Author's Department
Japanese Language & Literature
Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
8-13-2026
Language
English (en)
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7936/6zjf-vt07
Recommended Citation
Chanez, Elsa Claire Camille, "Traces of France: Reinterpreting Transborder Literature Through the Remains of “Frenchness” in the works of Takahashi Takako, Ogino Anna, and Kanehara Hitomi" (2026). Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations. 3870.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.7936/6zjf-vt07