Representing the Other in Modern Japanese Literature looks at the ways in which authors writing in Japanese in the twentieth century constructed a division between the ‘Self’ and the ‘Other’ in their work. Drawing on methodology from Foucault and Lacan, the clearly presented essays seek to show how Japanese writers have responded to the central question of what it means to be ‘Japanese’ and of how best to define their identity. Taking geographical, racial and ethnic identity as a starting point to explore Japan's vision of 'non-Japan', representations of the Other are examined in terms of the experiences of Japanese authors abroad and in the imaginary lands envisioned by authors in Japan. Using a diverse cross-section of writers and texts as case studies, this edited volume brings together contributions from a number of leading international experts in the field and is written at an accessible level, making it essential reading for those working in Japanese studies, colonialism, identity studies and nationalism.
Author(s): Mark Williams, Rachael Hutchinson
Edition: 1
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 368
Book Cover......Page 1
Half-Title......Page 2
Series Title......Page 3
Title......Page 6
Copyright......Page 7
Contents......Page 8
Notes on contributors......Page 10
Acknowledgements......Page 15
Introduction: Self and Other in modern Japanese literature......Page 18
1 Hermes and Hermes: Othernesses in modern Japanese literature......Page 36
2 Meet me on the other side: Strategies of Otherness in modern Japanese literature......Page 55
Part I: External others......Page 72
3 Who holds the whip?: Power and critique in Nagai Kafu's Tales of America......Page 74
4 'Foreign bodies': 'Race', gender and orientalism in Tanizaki Jun'ichiro's 'The Mermaid's Lament'......Page 92
5 Self and Other in the writings of Kajii Motojiro......Page 113
6 Yokomitsu Riichi's Others: Paris and Shanghai......Page 126
Part II: Internal others......Page 142
7 Passing: Paradoxes of alterity in The Broken Commandment......Page 144
8 The Burakumin as 'Other' in Noma Hiroshi's Circle of Youth......Page 162
9 Sincerely yours: Uno Chiyo's A Wife's Letters as wartime subversion......Page 182
10 Foreign Sex, native politics: Lady Chatterley's Lover in post-occupation Japan......Page 200
11 The way of the survivor: Conversion and inversion in Oe Kenzaburo's Hiroshima Notes......Page 228
12 Free to write: Confronting the present, and the past, in Shiina Rinzo's The Beautiful Woman......Page 247
Part III: Liminal sites......Page 270
13 Yuta as the postcolonial Other in Oshiro Tatsuhiro's fiction......Page 272
14 Modernity, history, and the uncanny: Colonial encounter and the epistemological gap......Page 288
15 'There's no such place as home': Goto Meisei, or identity as alterity......Page 309
16 Beyond language: Embracing the figure of 'the Other' in Yi Yang-ji's Yuhi......Page 329
Index......Page 349
