In Search of the Listener: Mizumura Minae’s Shishōsetsu from left to right

For all the reading models that reader response criticism posited in its heyday, one issue has largely escaped notice. This is the relationship between multilingual texts and their readers. How can we theorise a place for the monolingual (or effectively monolingual) reader of a multilingual literary text? As theorists continue to grapple with the geopolitical fact of unequal linguistic and cultural exchange, it seems likely that this type of reader will feature increasingly in both literary theory and Translation Studies. This essay applies the sociological concept of voice to the literary text in order to illustrate the difficulties that underrepresented writers face in making themselves heard. Taking Mizumura Minae’s 1995 novel Shishōsetsu from left to right as a case study, this essay posits several reasons why a writer might intentionally complicate an already unpredictable reception scenario by producing a multilingual literary text where a monolingual one is expected. These include drawing attention to problems of contemporary linguistic ecology, reinforcing thematic struggles at the formal level of the text, and critiquing native literary forms.