Oda Sakunosuke's Meoto zenzai as a Genealogy, and Its Narrative Structure

Abstract

Meoto zenzai firmly established the impression of Oda Sakunosuke as an Osaka writer, and that persists today. In the history of Showa literature, however, Meoto zenzai (Wedded Bliss, 1939) was also at one point considered one of a group of genealogical works that became popular around 1940, and was valued for its participation in the "artistic resistance" to the War. This study distances itself from these previous categorizations, and analyses the historical background in which this work came to be acknowledged as a genealogical novel. A close textual analysis clarifies that the novel's important characteristics reside in the typical narrative construct of a genealogical novel, which helps the narrative cover a long history with speed. This understanding should help overcome our stereotypical view of the novel as the work of an Osaka writer, and revise our understanding of Oda's contributions in the context of a broader literary history.