Borisova Anastasia Sergeevna – PhD in Philology, senior lecturer at the Department of Japanese Philology, Institute of Asian and African Studies of M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University
Both specific locations and categories of villages, towns and landscapes have a connection in the Japanese culture to an uninterrupted tradition of cultural memory dating back to myths and folklore. Authors of modern literature keep preserving and developing archetypes associated with secluded villages deep in the mountains or by the sea as well as suburbs being a liminal zone between city environment and nature. Yoshikichi Furui, belonging to the “introverted generation” literary group of the 1970–1980s, often chose both wildlands and suburbs as setting for his works focused on a Japanese urban dweller’s identity crisis of the decades. His characters find themselves outside of their usual circle of city life to come face to face with old traditinal Japan represented by villagers still following the ancient ways or unusual guests in their suburban living blocks.
Yoshikichi Furui; “introverted generation”; Japanese literature; cultural memory; identity; liminal spaces