Kono Taeko is undoubtedly the most famous Japanese writer. Her debut in 1961 gave her an enormous applause and admiration all over the world. She portrays Japan society, as wealthy, prosperous, worth copying. The stories of 'Toddler Hunting' were published in 1960s.
The family model
described in all her novels is based on hard-working people 'white-collar workers', who
thanks their intellectual capacity and endurance achieve an
international, national success, they sacrifice everything to obtain
financial, mental, spiritual balance and stability. The woman is
self-scarifying “shufu” – the model of a woman who in the
name of 'love' and devotion toward the man does something that utterly
makes her unhappy.
The female characters
desire to posses otoko ono ko –
little boys, for that reason, they hate and pushes away the image of
little girls – onna ono ko.
The
novel touches a very serious problem of sexuality, the complex
problem of gender, female imaginations and male homosexual
relationships, often in her books boys undergo a metamorphosis, they
try to find their self-identity due to having sex with the same sex.
The innocence is their karma, the innocence fills their lives, by
having younger and younger lovers – it seems to be a never-ending
joy.
The
concept of sexual relationship here follows a female who loathes women
but put all her desire and animal instinct to posses a boy, a very young man, often virginal one, the female visualizes in
her imagination the intercourse between the boy and his father, this
image fills the space between the lovers. The vision presented in
the book by the writer is very controversial, perverse, presents
dichotomy of perception, and dichotomy of minds as an infinite sublime
of sexual sensations.
“... Akikko's dislike
of little girls was of entirely different order than her disdain for
happy, attractive, conceited women her own age, or for young men
throwing their weight around, or for smug, complacent old people. It
was more like a phobia, the repulsion some people feel when confronted with small creatures like snakes, cats or frogs ...”
Akikko's love toward
young boys might be well-described by the following passage from the
book, which by no means is very accurate in Akikko's monologue;
“... but little boys
now extremely appealing at this age. She didn't know exactly when her
attraction for them first surfaced, but with every passing year she
found their company more intoxicating...
“
Her
obsession is immerse, she buys clothes for boys, she knows, at the
same time, that there is no one whom she could give to, however, the
image of a young boy rooted in her head is so strong, she cannot get
rid of it, the desire to have younger and younger lover around
overwhelms her entirely.
The family model
described in the novel and the role of the women in it, is firmed, the
women hate it, fell disgust of being put into 'marginal' position,
namely, home surroundings. Most of them do not marry the men they are
with. The sex is brutal, painful,
unpleasant, rough, both sides agree for this silent agreement of
satisfaction in dissatisfaction, live in unrealistic reality. They,
simply, made their choices.
In the book there is an
unmarried woman, about thirty or some more, she used to be an opera
singer, she made the ends meet by working flextime using her
Italian as a foreign language. She has got a very sophisticated
relationship with her boyish boyfriend – Sasaki, the violent sex
they have almost every night caused Akikko's hospitalization.
The novel presents destructive female character, Freudian character, as a compliment of the male character which is very
complex, as much as Japanese culture, society, and norms of
behavior. Sasaki is very dominant, possessive, with ambitions, he
fantasies of being a father, maybe this predominant features of his
character made Akikko engaged in sadomasochistic sex. Her fantasy
overtakes reality.
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