Koizora: A Mirroring of Keitai Shōsetsu in a "Novel" Approach to Modern Literature (thesis)

Abstract

This thesis will explore the role of the cellular phone within the keitai shōsetsu literary phenomenon with focus on the development of an "intimate stranger" through keitai communication. I will discuss the historical literary archetypes that provide striking similarities to keitai shōsetsu. The role of the keitai becomes a pervasive presence that provides readers and writers with a way of exchanging personal stories without first forming a traditional friendship bond. I will also explore the parallel role of the cellular phone in the keitai shōsetsu Koizora "Sky of Love" of which I have read and translated several portions to complete this study. In order to create a foundation for understanding Koizora, I will begin by providing background information regarding the writers of these novels including their social demographics as well as the relationship between the anonymity of the writers and the content of the novels. Using examples from the text of Koizora as well as referencing the experiences of keitai authors, I will illustrate the similarities between the genre and the work Koizora.