Amélie Nothomb’s Writing of Japanese Female Images

Abstract

Belgian writer Amélie Nothomb lived in Japan for five years, an experience that led her to regard herself as Japanese. After receiving higher education in Belgium, she found herself unable to integrate into Belgian society. Following graduation, she returned to Japan with longing and expectations, only to discover that she was equally alienated from Japanese society. In particular, Japan’s harsh disciplinary norms imposed on women left her disoriented. The collapse of her “Japanese dream” thus became the source of inspiration for her literary creation. Nothomb has written a series of autobiographical novels in which she portrays her complex emotions toward Japan and shapes a number of vivid Japanese female figures. These representations not only outline the living conditions and social status of Japanese women, but also reveal Nothomb’s feminist stance and, more profoundly, her quest for cultural identity within Japan as a “heterotopia.”