Beyond National Language: Li Kotomi’s Authorial Plurilingualism

Abstract

Li Kotomi, a Taiwanese-born author now living in Japan, has burst into prominence on the Japanese-language literary scene after her acceptance of the Akutagawa Prize in 2021. This article utilizes translation theory to explore the blended use of Chinese and Japanese in one of Kotomi’s earlier novellas, the 2019 “Itsutsu kazoereba mikazuki ga” (“Count to Five and the Crescent Moon will…”). The novella follows two women, one from Taiwan and one from Japan, and their reunion after moving to each other’s country of birth, further complicated by one’s attraction to the other. Through her use of orthography, Kotomi’s narrative confronts the reader with the quandaries of translation, and her depiction of the personal consequences of living between languages and nations challenges the categories of national language and identity.