Abstract
This chapter analyzes two dystopian novels by Japanese sensation Sayaka Murata, Satsujin Shussan (Birth Murder, 2014) and Shōmetsu Sekai (Vanishing World, 2015). Murata’s critique of the Japanese society especially revolves around the patriarchal view that ties women to motherhood, and her works aim to deconstruct the ideological connection between family, sex, and pregnancy. In order to do so, she imagines new systems where reproductive technology has deeply impacted society and apparently led to what at first glance could be considered gender equality. The chapter will also analyze the construct of motherhood in her works and will debate on where to critically situate her novels considering the Feminist movement in Japan.
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Notes
- 1.
Her first novel to be published in English and several other languages, Conbini Ningen has been translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori and published in 2018 by Grove Press (US) and Portobello Books (UK). The title has been translated as Convenience Store Woman, even though the original Japanese version uses the non-gendered word Human. During an interview at International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan, the translator has stated that it was an editorial and marketing choice.
- 2.
The flower Rudbeckia represents “justice,” or the state of one being “correct.” See Fujiki, Naomi. 2018. ‘Ninshin’ wo dasshu suru: josei sakka ni yoru ninshin yōshō wo yomu. In Ninpu Āto Ron. Fukuramu shintai wo dasshu suru Ron Fukuramu shintai wo dasshu suru. Seikyūsha: 66–86.
- 3.
In Japanese, they are called kyara. It stands for characters appearing in manga, games etc.
- 4.
See Mari Kotani, “Space, Body, and Aliens in Japanese Women’s Science Fiction.” Translated by Miki Nakamura. Science Fiction Studies 29, no. 3 (2002): 397–417 and Seaman, Amanda C. Bodies of Evidence: Women, Society, and Detective Fiction in 1990s Japan (University of Hawaii Press, 2004).
- 5.
My translation.
- 6.
“Danjo Kyodo Sankaku Shakai” translated as “Equal participation in society by both men and women.”
- 7.
See Mackie (2003), V.
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Sautto, C. (2022). Gender and Reproduction in the Dystopian Works of Sayaka Murata. In: Vint, S., Buran, S. (eds) Technologies of Feminist Speculative Fiction. Palgrave Studies in Science and Popular Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96192-3_8
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