Abstract：Abstract：Since the term “I-novel” came into being, the history of Japanese I-novel has reached its one hundred years. During the period “I-novel Study” has remained active and even become an independent field, called “I-novel Comments”, playing an important role in I-novel evolution. This paper attempts to divide the one hundred years’ Japanese I-novel studies into five periods in order to sort, comment and analyze the subjects and features of the I-novel studies in each period, especially those after 1990s. The retrospection shows that I-novel study is still a subject of great interest in Japanese literary studies in the new century and has evolved into a new era of research with diversified perspectives. The probe into I-novel from the perspective of narratology and self-perception remain two major themes of I-novel studies, whereas the cultural studies on the origin, history, category, definition, creative concept and approach of I-novel become a new subject of I-novel studies.
Key words: I-novel; I-novel study; ego; “I” theory
