Msu Iah 207
Cultural Context * Transformations of everyday life: * Diverse approaches to the popular culture: * --- How to take a new position in handling the unexpected loss at a personal level: * --- To focus on healing instead of agony: * --- To discuss serious issues in straight forward language: * Yoshimoto Banana * Yoshimoto Mahoko * Her father has a successful career as a poet and critic * Love of popular fiction, Japanese manage comics pop music * Graduated from Nihon University in 1987 * “Kitchen” * Works: 12 novels and 7collections of essays * “Kitchen” (1987) 1. What does the narrator (mikage) like? --- Kitchens * “The place I like best in this world is the kitchen”.
Why does she like kitchen? * --- Functional: It is a place to make food.
What is the reason for her to like “dirty kitchens”? --- a dirty kitchen means this kitchen has been used frequently used by many people
Why does she like the large kitchen with a giant refrigerator? --- A large kitchen could satisfy her to prepare food for the whole winter * --- Psychological: she could sleep after the loss. * Love of kitchen
How does she describe herself in relation to the kitchen at this point? * --- “Now only the kitchen and I are left. It’s just a little nicer than being all alone”. --- She is considering the kitchen as a pleasure in her life. * --- The kitchen has become a companion:
How do we interpret her love of kitchen? --- She is lonely. Food is the basic ingredient to sustain life: * --- The hum of the refrigerator distracts her from thinking of her loneliness: * --- “I will stare death fearless in the eye” * The initial encounter
What does the narrator think of their kitchen? * “It was a good kitchen” * --- Large, things are precisely arranged and neatly organized. * --- Is she free of loneliness in this fine kitchen? No, she is not free.
How does she describe Eriko? * “The whole of
Why does she like kitchen? * --- Functional: It is a place to make food.
What is the reason for her to like “dirty kitchens”? --- a dirty kitchen means this kitchen has been used frequently used by many people
Why does she like the large kitchen with a giant refrigerator? --- A large kitchen could satisfy her to prepare food for the whole winter * --- Psychological: she could sleep after the loss. * Love of kitchen
How does she describe herself in relation to the kitchen at this point? * --- “Now only the kitchen and I are left. It’s just a little nicer than being all alone”. --- She is considering the kitchen as a pleasure in her life. * --- The kitchen has become a companion:
How do we interpret her love of kitchen? --- She is lonely. Food is the basic ingredient to sustain life: * --- The hum of the refrigerator distracts her from thinking of her loneliness: * --- “I will stare death fearless in the eye” * The initial encounter
What does the narrator think of their kitchen? * “It was a good kitchen” * --- Large, things are precisely arranged and neatly organized. * --- Is she free of loneliness in this fine kitchen? No, she is not free.
How does she describe Eriko? * “The whole of