Writing the Voice in Modern Japanese Fiction.

In this article I presented a comparative analysis of narrative speech in the modern novel in Japan and the West. Particularly I referred to the use of the quotation mark in modern fiction, as an element aimed at separating the voice of the characters from that of the narrator. Today it is common to find this item in novels and short stories, but in which period has it come in common usage in the West and in Japan? For what reasons has it become a virtually ubiquitous element in modern fiction? And finally, to what extent the way of reading novels and short stories over time (especially through the transition from aloud reading to silent reading) may have influenced the way of writing them? Providing some concrete examples from both Western and Japanese literary histories, I tried to give an answer to these problems, which are some of the issues that I will discuss in my doctoral thesis, developed in co-tutorship between Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and Rome “La Sapienza” Univ