Charles Explorer logo
🇬🇧

Fantastical Okinawa of Medoruma Shun

Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2021

Abstract

This article discusses fantastical elements in the works of Okinawan writer Medoruma Shun. Using the concepts of the Lubomír Doležel's fictional world theory to analyse three of Medoruma's stories (Mabuigumi, Okinawan Bukku Revyū and Umukaji tu chiriti) it is answering a question of what role do fantastical elements fulfil in these stories.

It focuses on the link between Medoruma's literature and Okinawan tradition, which serves as the source of his fantastical elements, and at the same time on his critique of romanticising views that see this tradition as the antidote for socio-political issues plaguing current Okinawa, including the American military presence there. Medoruma's supernaturally gifted heroes clash with these issues but in the end their abilities repeatedly fail in this conflict.