The Departing Body: Creation of the Neutral in-between Sensual Bodies

Fusako Innami

doi:10.4312/as.2011.15.3.111-130

The Departing Body: Creation of the Neutral in-between Sensual Bodies

Fusako Innami

School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This paper investigates the Japanese concept of ma/aida, the space in-between, discussed by French author Roland Barthes as the Neutral, not signifying the medium of the opposite poles but the bare existence. It first analyzes how the discourse of contiguous relationships and the space between others has functioned in modern and postwar Japan, and further employs the works of the Japanese female writer Matsuura Rieko as counterexamples, with particular emphasis on the space between the sensual and the sexual. It provides a fresh view on the conceptions of space and indirectness between and within the body.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	111-130
Number of pages	20
Journal	Journal of Asian and African Studies
Volume	15
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2011.15.3.111-130
Publication status	Published - Dec 2011

Keywords

space-in-between
selfhood
sensual and sexual
passivity
skinship

Access to Document

10.4312/as.2011.15.3.111-130

Cite this

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