@article{oai:nagoya.repo.nii.ac.jp:00029038, author = {村上, 克尚 and Murakami, Katsunao}, journal = {JunCture : 超域的日本文化研究}, month = {Mar}, note = {Nobuo Kojima’s Embracing Family (Hōyō Kazoku) is considered one of the most important novels to address life in Japan after World War II. In Maturity and Loss: The Collapse of the ‘Mother’ (Seijuku to soshitsu: ‘Haha’ no hokai), Japanese literary critic Jun Etō observed that the American soldier George’s intercourse with Tokiko, the wife of main character Shunsuke, stood for the American occupation of Japan. Etō insisted that in order to solve this problem, Shunsuke must become the Father, a strong subject. He also suggested that Japan must be a strong sovereign nation with military power. This paper argues that Embracing Family in fact contradicts Etō’s interpretation. Even if Shunsuke builds a new house which can be defended from external enemies, he will not be able to prevent Tokiko’s death by cancer. Shunsuke does not recognize her illness and does not care for her. It is not Shunsuke’s powerlessness as the Father that is the main problem within the novel; Tokiko’s suffering is due to familial norms which force her to be a housewife. Tokiko does not desire George or America, but rather seeks the queer family. It is a place where there is no master of a house, and anyone will be welcomed unconditionally, regardless of lineage, gender, sexuality, class, age or nationality. It is George and Michiyo, the housekeeper, who allow Tokiko to dream of the queer family. Shunsuke believes that the Other brings dirt into the house, but the Other also provides the opportunity to unsettle a subject who rests in his home, thoroughly fracturing the ossified relation of family. Therefore, Kojima’s work suggests that we must open ourselves to the arrival of the unknown Other even if it proves risky. As such, Embracing Family portrays a law of hospitality rather than one of defense and insulation.}, pages = {156--169}, title = {クィア・ファミリーの誘惑 : 小島信夫『抱擁家族』における歓待の法}, volume = {6}, year = {2015} }