@article{ART003345827},
author={SHIN MIN YOUNG},
title={Female Narratives and Ruptures in the Komin (Imperialization) Project: Focusing on Sakaguchi Reiko’s “The Cheng Family” (1941)},
journal={Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University},
issn={1598-3021},
year={2026},
volume={83},
number={2},
pages={261-294}
TY - JOUR
AU - SHIN MIN YOUNG
TI - Female Narratives and Ruptures in the Komin (Imperialization) Project: Focusing on Sakaguchi Reiko’s “The Cheng Family” (1941)
JO - Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University
PY - 2026
VL - 83
IS - 2
PB - Institute of Humanities, Seoul National University
SP - 261
EP - 294
SN - 1598-3021
AB - This study re-examines Sakaguchi Reiko’s novel “The Cheng (Zheng in pinyin) Family”, a work centered on a three-generation imperialization (Kōminka) project, as a record of narrative fissures occurring at the nexus of colonial power discourse and gender politics. By focusing on the illogical leaps and narrative surpluses within the text, this paper aims to demonstrate the ruptures caused when the empire’s imperialization project collides with the lived experiences of women.
The stories of the three women in the Cheng family ― Yu, Sayo, and Cuixia ― intervene disruptively in the rigid imperialization narrative constructed by three generations of men, creating cracks in its foundation.
Yu adheres to a symbolic worldview, refusing to comply with the empire’s progressive and linear concept of time. Although her mourning is dismissed as pre-modern superstition, this space of surplus paradoxically becomes an internal territory of Taiwan that the empire fails to fully occupy. Sayo, the Japanese wife, demonstrates the hollowing out of existence and alienation through her depression and silence; her isolation serves as a stark indicator of the bankruptcy of imperial ideology. Meanwhile, Cuixia delays the completion of the imperial narrative by adhering to the private sphere and rejecting reproduction. Her self-preservation proves that the imperial attempt to exert total control over an individual’s life is inevitably bound for failure.
Crucially, the voices and silences of these women do not stem from intentional resistance by the author. Instead, they are symptomatic fissures that leak out from the gaps in the text — a result of the fundamental incompleteness inherent in the patriarchal imperialist project itself. While the male narratives converge toward the abstract ideal of Hakkō Ichiu (Eight Corners of the World Under One Roof), the female narratives remain as remainders in the gaps. In doing so, they function as powerful narrative devices that obstruct the completeness of the imperial discourse and expose its underlying deceptiveness.
KW - Sakaguchi Reiko;“The Cheng Family”;Narrative Surplus; Female Narratives;Imperialization (Kōminka) Project;Narrative Fissures
DO -
UR -
ER -
SHIN MIN YOUNG. (2026). Female Narratives and Ruptures in the Komin (Imperialization) Project: Focusing on Sakaguchi Reiko’s “The Cheng Family” (1941). Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University, 83(2), 261-294.
SHIN MIN YOUNG. 2026, "Female Narratives and Ruptures in the Komin (Imperialization) Project: Focusing on Sakaguchi Reiko’s “The Cheng Family” (1941)", Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University, vol.83, no.2 pp.261-294.
SHIN MIN YOUNG "Female Narratives and Ruptures in the Komin (Imperialization) Project: Focusing on Sakaguchi Reiko’s “The Cheng Family” (1941)" Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University 83.2 pp.261-294 (2026) : 261.
SHIN MIN YOUNG. Female Narratives and Ruptures in the Komin (Imperialization) Project: Focusing on Sakaguchi Reiko’s “The Cheng Family” (1941). 2026; 83(2), 261-294.
SHIN MIN YOUNG. "Female Narratives and Ruptures in the Komin (Imperialization) Project: Focusing on Sakaguchi Reiko’s “The Cheng Family” (1941)" Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University 83, no.2 (2026) : 261-294.
SHIN MIN YOUNG. Female Narratives and Ruptures in the Komin (Imperialization) Project: Focusing on Sakaguchi Reiko’s “The Cheng Family” (1941). Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University, 83(2), 261-294.
SHIN MIN YOUNG. Female Narratives and Ruptures in the Komin (Imperialization) Project: Focusing on Sakaguchi Reiko’s “The Cheng Family” (1941). Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University. 2026; 83(2) 261-294.
SHIN MIN YOUNG. Female Narratives and Ruptures in the Komin (Imperialization) Project: Focusing on Sakaguchi Reiko’s “The Cheng Family” (1941). 2026; 83(2), 261-294.
SHIN MIN YOUNG. "Female Narratives and Ruptures in the Komin (Imperialization) Project: Focusing on Sakaguchi Reiko’s “The Cheng Family” (1941)" Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University 83, no.2 (2026) : 261-294.
