Differently Equal: Ibsen’s Nora, the New Woman and the Evolution of Self- Orientalization in Japan

Abstract

The way in which Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House was received in Japan contributed to the redefinition of gender roles that have had effects into the present day. By taking a closer look at the social conditions at the time Ibsen was popularized in Japan we can see how both women as individuals and the social structure of Japan responded to Nora’s awakening and by understanding how Nora was translated and adapted, we can see how the category of “woman” was essentialized and how genders came to be portrayed in this equal-but-different way. At the time, women writers struggled with their own positions as Japanese women in transition, contemplating if and how Ibsenism fit their own stories.