Publication Date
Spring 2020
Advisor(s) - Committee Chair
Alexander Olson, Tamara Van Dyken, Dorothea Browder, and Jeffrey Miner
Degree Program
Department of History
Degree Type
Master of Arts
Abstract
Yone Noguchi’s novels, The American Diary of a Japanese Girl and The American Letters of a Japanese Parlor-Maid, both published with the first decade of the twentieth century, have been the subject of study for scholars in the humanities for the past few decades. The research examines both novels in historical context and against his personal communications and his subsequently published works, understanding Noguchi not just as a Japanese immigrant but also a member of an American literary community. I compare the larger structing of the Diary to the works of his literary peers and mentors and demonstrate that understanding Noguchi’s novels as published within the spirit of American humor reinforces their reading as serious cultural criticism. This paper also examines Noguchi’s larger intentions for the Diary, not only to criticize Orientalist misconceptions that he observed, but to replace these ideas them with a model Japanese woman that reflected his modern views and captivated American audiences with her charm and wit. The investigation demonstrates an understanding of Noguchi’s novels as an expression femininity in association with the sexual and romantic notions that he expressed within the text by considering conceptions of gender and sexuality within the period.
Disciplines
American Studies | Asian American Studies | History
Recommended Citation
Alston, Evan Connor, "Yone Noguchi and Miss Morning Glory: American Humor, Identity, and Cultural Criticism in the Works of Yone Noguchi" (2020). Masters Theses & Specialist Projects. Paper 3219.
https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/3219