Acceptance as a “Home Novel"

: On the Representation of Female Characters in Ie Naki Ko, Written by Hector Malot and Translated by Yūhō Kikuchi

Abstract

　Sans Famille (1878), written by Hector Malot, is a popular work for children in French literature. It was translated into Japanese by Yuho Kikuchi. This translation was titled Ie Naki Ko, and was serialized in the daily newspsper the Osaka Mainichi Shinbun and then published in book form in 1911–1912. Kikuchi, known as an “expert of adaptation," however, attempted to keep the translation faithful to the French original. This fact is proof of his high regard for the original work. This article explores the question, “what values were found in the original and how did Kikuchi pay attention to them in his translation?" Considering that Kikuchi was originally a writer of home novels (katei shōsetsu) that catered to female readers, the focus of this article is on the representation of female characters in Ie Naki Ko.

　In the 1900s, Kikuchi's representative works of home novels contained information on women's morals within a family; he reiterated in his articles that a woman should create a warm family atmosphere and be a good wife and wise mother. After the Russo–Japan War, individualism started spreading in Japanese society, and Kikuchi feared its influence on Japanese women's morals. It would appear that Kikuchi considered Sans Famille a home novel and appreciated the fact that the female characters sacrificed their own comfort and cared for their children, husbands and parents. Respecting the expressions in the original work, in the translation, Kikuchi attempted to emphasize the female characters' virtue of devotion to the family.