The object: Kyoko Mori’s prose writings “Shizuko’s Daughter”, “One Bird”, “The Dream of Water”, “Polite Lies”, “Yarn”, selected essays and poems. The goal of research: the semantics and poetics of the works by Japanese American writer Kyoko Mori, which determine the generic and thematic specificity of her prose. The research methodology: the method of poststructuralist criticism is based on the modern concept of national and cultural identity of bilingual writers, the paradigm of which includes the theories of post-ethnicity, post-identity, transnational feminism as components of complex analysis of post-colonial authors’ writings. The literary historical method is combined with semantic and poetic analysis of texts, which helps to determine the role and place of Kyoko Mori’s writings in American literature in the late 20th / early 21st century. The literary historical, genrological and comparative methods are applied to study Kyoko Mori’s works in the context of Asian-American and, in particular, the Japanese-American literature development in correlation with the American and Japanese mainstream literature. The revised approach to the genrological method is based on the philological reading of Kyoko Mori’s books as a poetic unity, as well as definition of the generic and thematic characteristics of her writings. The materials of the thesis research can be used in preparation of lecture courses on history of Japanese-American literature, literary theory, comparative literature studies, as well as a reference for graduation and term thesis works, study guides. The scientific novelty of the research: the phenomenon of Kyoko Mori’s writings entails revising the problematic of Asian-American literature in the late 20th / early 21st century, apprehending the concepts of national identity, hybridity, hyphenated literature within poststructural paradigm of modern theories: post-ethnicity, post-identity and transculturation. As a bilingual and bicultural writer, she devises her oeuvres integrating the Western cultural tradition in her maternal culture. For the first time in Ukrainian literary criticism, the Japanese American writer is viewed as a salient phenomenon inscribed within transcultural literature that transcends the borders of cultures, outlining a wider literary perspective. The research explores the overall scope of Kyoko Mori’s remarkable books as a poetic unity. The field of use: scientific research in literary criticism and educational process.
