MARRIAGE, THE NEWSPAPER BUSINESS, AND THE NATION-STATE - IDEOLOGY IN THE LATE MEIJI SERIALIZED KATEI SHOSETSU

The katei shosetsu (domestic novel), a type of popular romance fiction featuring married heroines, emerged in the years between the Sino- an d Russo-Japanese Wars. These initial examples of the genre were produc ed as newspaper serials by male authors at a time when the Meiji gover nment was keenly interested in defining the family and women's role wi thin it. Despite the apparent usefulness of the katei shosetsu as a to ol for government involvement in shaping popular notions of married li fe, such katei shosetsu as Kikuchi Yuho's ''Ono ga tsumi'' (My sin) we re not simple tracts featuring prescribed models of wifely behavior. T he highly competitive newspaper business of the time in fact gave wome n an opportunity-as consumers and correspondents-to influence authors of katei shosetsu and the ideals for married life that these novels de pict.