Femininity and the motif of purity in postwar Japanese literature

(in English) The aim of this thesis is to analyze female characters in the context of postwar Japanese literature and to examine the connections between the motifs of femininity and purity. The analysis is based on three pieces of literature: Kawabata Yasunari's Koto (The Old Capital), Tanizaki Jun'ichiro's Sasameyuki (Makioka Sisters) and Enchi Fumiko's Onnamen (Masks). These authors were selected for their prominent engagement with female themes and their influential roles on the post-war literary scene. The paper examines how female characters are associated with the concept of purity and what these associations reveal about contemporary perceptions of female identity. Special attention is given to recurring patterns in the depiction of women across the three works and how these patterns may differ depending on the author's gender. The theoretical framework of the thesis combines the theory of fictional worlds by Thomas Pavel and Lubomír Doležel with feminist literary theory. This approach enables not only a detailed analysis of the literary texts but also a deeper understanding of the ways in which postwar Japanese literature constructs and reflects female identity.