Annotated Bibliography
King, Emerald Louise. “‘She’s Got Tears In Her Eyes’: The Language of Masochistic Violence in the Work of Kōno Taeko” Crossroads. Rhizomes Conference, 2009.
Emerald Louise King states, “a masochist idealizes or fantasizes about what they want to happen, finding pleasure in the expectation of discomfort as opposed to finding the discomfort itself pleasurable” (74). It’s clear that any one of Kōno’s works can be highly described as displaying language of masochistic violence and power. Kôno's female heroines are all strong-willed ladies with a masochistic yearning that helps them grow and enjoy themselves. They aren't persuaded by the male characters around them; instead, they take pleasure in the sexual satisfaction that surrounds their power. In any scenario or story, Kōno also brings the effect of how a woman might wield power. It's a quick adjustment to see how a woman can be independent, not having children in their early thirties who have a shaky relationship with their significant other while working full time, since it's a quick assumption that the male is always in control. It simply serves to distinguish Kōno's characters from the general population of Japanese women in the 1960s. Kôno's female characters have a masochistic desire where it contributes to their progress and enjoyment.
This text is useful and can be used as a background to Taeko Kōno’s style of writing. If readers are interested in masochist literature, Kōno displays much of her talent in this specific field. King also ties in how power and gender can be ultimate factors in writing a masochist literature short story. This secondary source is great for those who want to learn about Kōno’s thoughts as a writer and how she incorporates many themes into creating her own masterpiece, full of masochism.
Pascual, Christian. “Subtlely & Subversion: The Role of the Masculine in Taeko Kōno's Toddler Hunting & Other Stories.” Prized Writing. Accessed May 3, 2022.
Many of Kōno’s female characters have similar subversive personality qualities, and her male characters have equally comparable responsibilities. Despite the fact that the majority of Kōno’s protagonists are female, their relationships with male figures in their lives, notably lovers and children, have a significant impact on their dark characterizations. Males make life-changing decisions for women, such as surgery and birth control, which irritate their female partners and fuel their non-traditional psychologies. Women rarely make demands of this magnitude on males, which is ironic. “This disjoint between the two genders’ liberty is highlighted in “Ants Swarm,” in which Fumiko gives Matsuda full authority over when they will conceive a child” (64). As Fumiko highlights the regularity of her cycle, when she learns her period isn't on time, she worries that she'll lose her husband, Matsuda, if she gets pregnant. The possibility of an absentee father deters these women from taking on the responsibility of childrearing alone. Men's unwillingness to share responsibilities, according to Kōno, causes their spouses to reject childrearing on the basis of equality. Because they don't have a father, Fumiko sees no need to become mothers and give up their livelihood for a child. Thus, the rejection of childrearing and motherhood reasserts equality and free choice, stemming from an unwillingness to accept gender discrimination. Despite the fact that Kōno examines how males alienate women by avoiding fatherhood, she adds nuance to her research by highlighting how men can benefit from fatherhood. Christian Pascual wrote this term paper for his Japan 103 class, as he was intrigued by Kōno’s book, “Toddler Hunting and Other Stories”.
This source is perfect for readers who are interested in a student’s fresh perspective, with no bias as he did not know about Kōno nor read her writing before. Pascual also writes about the female protagonists considering them the “primary lenses” through which Kōno writes. Overall, this source is a good start for those needing details on the specifics of Kōno’s male and female characters. Pascual highlights the unbalance between the powerful female characters and minor male characters.
Knighton, Mary A. “The Masochist's Masquerade: Kōno Taeko's 'Beautiful Girl' (Bishōjo).” Japan Forum. Routledge, August 29, 2017.
Mary A. Knighton’s, “The Masochist’s Masquerade” displays a wonderful text for readers who
states that Kōno Taeko is well-known for her literary masochism, which critics often interpret via the prism of psychoanalysis. According to this article, when historical settings are brought into play, we obtain new insights into Kōno's literary life and corpus. Knighton contends that the best way to grasp Kōno's fictional world is to pay attention to two key factors: the impact of Kōno's wartime girlhood on her fiction and expose the male characters. In Kōno’s Bishojo, the stage of masochism's fantasy is complemented by a female subjectivity woefully undertheorized by psychoanalysis orientated towards male development narratives as the norm. The plot revolves around girls, or shojo, who reveal the disavowed shojo at the heart of protagonist Shōko’s mentality. Shōko must cover her manly strengths in a masochistic mask that is indistinguishable from femininity itself in order to survive. She weaves a masochistic web between two abusive men whose attempts to humiliate her are inextricably linked to the national Occupation and postwar masculinity.
This article also shows how Kōno's masochism is used as a literary technique for gender-separating issues in historical contexts, exposing the psychic aberrations that only fiction, as a light into the darkened interior world of human beings, can expose. Shōko is like any other one of Kōno’s protagonists who absolutely despises children, specifically little girls. Because Kōno’s female characters have greater freedom in the fantasy script than they have in the real world, literary daraku suits the masochistic aesthetic of the female writer's imagining cosmos.
Langton, Nina Jean. “On The Edge: Woman, Nature, Mother, and Father in the Works of Kōno Taeko,” March 1993.
Nina Jean Langton looks at all of the writings by Kōno Taeko, inputting nature, mother, and father by studying them in detail, specifically how the female characters of her works react to each of these objects. Langton examines the works of Kōno by using a psychoanalytical method, with the relational model as the theoretical foundation rather than traditional analysis. She adopts this technique because she feels her works, dealing as they do with the mind and the anxieties, dreams, and wants that reside within, are susceptible to it. Kōno is claimed to be shifting from an intrinsically, antagonistic viewpoint, in which nature is perceived as a rejecting mother figure, to one in which nature is considered a source of human emancipation and rebirth. As many women have contradictory feelings about parenthood and motherhood, the concept of the mother-child link is also depicted. In these pieces, the father-daughter relationship is also discussed in light of the father's involvement in the characters' masochistic fantasies. As a result, the father is depicted as an idealized figure who serves as a means of escaping the all-powerful mother, but who, ironically, leads the protagonist back to her.
This source didn’t provide me useful information about Kōno Taeko’s “Ants Swarm” as there was no child in the short story. However, this is still a very informing text that highlights the parent-child relationship. If you want an article that provides explanations of Kōno’s choices with adding children into her stories and how it meshes with the adult dynamic, then I highly recommend this text for you.
King, Emerald Louise. “More than Skin Deep: Masochism in Japanese Women's Writing 1960-2005,” November 2012.
Emerald Louise King highlights how Kōno Taeko's work is notable for showing unconventional women who challenge expectations of being good wives and mothers. Her use of masochistic themes, which were contentious when originally published and continue to be distressing now, is a distinctive feature of her work. Her characters, on the other hand, are obsessed with or kidnap young boys, or engage in wife swapping and other 'deviant' sexual practices. Kōno’s style of writing comes from nikutai (‘body’/‘flesh’) literature of the late post-Pacific War period. Therefore, long and intricate masochistic, fantastical scenes may be found throughout Kōno’s narratives, particularly in the early short stories she wrote like “Ants Swarm” or “Yōjigan”. But, King notes how many scholars seem to mistake Kōno’s use of masochism as spousal abuse. Instead, King provides a rebuttal saying, “...while some women in abusive relationships may utilize violence against their children as a form of escape or vengeance, this isn't necessarily the case in a normal masochistic relationship” (88).
This article by King was very informative and best benefitted me the most. I got a lot of information from from how masochistic Kōno’s female characters are and can be. This text is helpful for those who are writing a piece on masochism and need good examples of stories that display this theme. Kōno is one of the best Japanese woman writers who excel in this category and King makes sure to let her readers know that. King highly praises Kōno’s work and tells you the key characteristics that Kōno adds in most of her texts.