在當代文學研究中,性別視角是研究女性身份問題的一個重要維度。2016年芥川獎獲獎作家村田沙耶香的作品《方舟》里細致刻畫了當代日本女性對于身份問題的疑惑與期盼。本文基于性別視角,解讀當代都市女性的生存狀態及其對自身命運與情感的思考。囿于社會傳統價值觀,日本都市女性在女性身體特征、性與性別身份的認知上承受著壓力與束縛,而這又激發了她們對性別規范的反抗。

Sayaka Murata, winner of the Akutagawa prize in 2016, describes contemporary Japanese women’s contemplation of identity and identity crisis in her novel Hakobune. From the perspective of gender studies, this article analyzes this work to understand the living conditions of contemporary urban women in Japan and their thoughts about their own destiny and emotional life. Constrained by traditional values, Japanese urban women suffer physically and cognitively from pressures on their female body, sexual identity and gender performance, which sparks their resistance to gender norms.