Title : Searching for Female Identity

Author(s) : Duantem Krisdathanont

Pages :

Abstract in English : According to feminist critics, the “Images
of Women” in literature created by most
female writers lack “authenticity” and
“real experience.” Susan Koppelman
Cornillon, for example, states in “Images
of Women in Fiction” (1972) that both
male and female authors come in for harsh
criticism for their creation of unreal
female characters , and female writers are
accused of being worse in this respect
since they are betraying their own sex
(Moi 2002: 42). However, Okamoto
Kanoko2 was a feminist writer who shared
her real experiences and provided a role
model for a positive female identity in the
form of main characters who are independent
of men. In this study, I analyze ,
Boshijyojyō [母子叙情] (‘The
Relationship between Mother and Son’)by
Okamoto Kanoko(1937) to find out how
her portrayal of the main character
incorporates her own experiences
describing the melancholy of a mother
longing for her son. I also examine the
question of whether “authenticity” and a
“positive sense of female identity” truly
exist in her work or not.