Japanese Precarious Literature
The term Japanese precarious literature was coined in the Japanological analysis and reflects the trend in Japanese literature to choose deficient sociotypes such as Freeter , NEETs and Hikikomori (for these three terms see Freeter literature ) as their protagonists in the context of a significant “sociological turnaround” .
A Japanese freeter literature , NEETs literature and Hikikomori literature turns to the dark sides of Japanese society, which were frequently registered in the macro-sociological discourse in the “lost decade” of the 1990s, as well as the fears of the future fueled by the threat of globalization.
The current sometimes called “neo-proletarian Japanese literature” (see Kirino Natsuo ), deals with the deteriorating conditions in the Japanese labor society (factory and temporary work, lack of opportunities, exploitation, loss of human dignity), and describes the parallel worlds that are often dominated by violence Japanese subcultures (e.g. kabuki-chō , prostitution, money lending) and specializes in portraits of younger generations without hope and prospects for the future or on depictions of losers and outsiders in the Japanese competitive society; Talk of the downward trend of the post-bubble and post- Ōmu-Shinrikyō era intensified in 1998.
The author Kirino Natsuo provides spectacular examples of the (albeit clearly literary) portrayal of a Japanese “at the bottom” - and a Japanese precariat - with “yellow-trash” novels such as “OUT” (1997; German The Embrace of Death, 2003), "I'm sorry, mama" (2004) and "Metabola" (2007).
literature
- Lisette Gebhardt : reflections on contemporary Japanese literature . In: Harald Meyer (Ed.): Ways of Japanology. Festschrift for Eduard Klopfenstein . LIT Verlag, Münster etc. 2008, pp. 265–289.
- Lisette Gebhardt : After Darkness - Contemporary Japanese Literature under the Sign of the Precarious ( Memento from April 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) . EB Verlag, Berlin 2010.
- Lisette Gebhardt (Ed.): “Yomitai! New Literature from Japan ”. Berlin: EB-Verlag Dr. Brandt. 2012. ISBN 978-3-86893-057-3