Modernism and Japanese Culture

ISBN-13: 9780230346444 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 344 str.

Roy Starrs

Opis

Offering an in-depth and comprehensive account of the complex history of Japanese modernism, in this book Roy Starrs considers the concept of modernism as encompassing not just the aesthetic avant-garde but a wide spectrum of social, political and cultural phenomena. He looks at Japanese modernism from the mid-19th century 'opening to the West' until the 21st-century, globalized world of 'postmodernism'; from the early Meiji 'cult of modernity' to the early Showa attempt to 'overcome modernity'. In this way, the book presents the history of Japanese modernism not as a straightforward, linear narrative of progressive acceptance and adaptation but more as a dialectical, back-and-forth oscillation between the two poles of acceptance and rejection, modernism and anti-modernism. Furthermore, Starrs shows that Japanese modernism was not simply the outcome of the passive reception of a unidirectional modern Western influence but of a complex cross-cultural interchange between East and West, modernity and tradition. In particular, he shows that traditional Japanese culture was very much part of that cultural mix, and a prime source of inspiration for modernists in both Japan and the West. Thus the book also convincingly demonstrates that Japan served as an active agent at certain key moments in the history of world modernism.

Recenzje

'With this, Starrs has picked up where he left off from his previous trilogy on Japanese literature, providing readers with another informative and challenging study. In so doing, he provides us with fresh insights into a topic that has been restored to a leading place in a variety of debates in recent years: Japan's approach to the modernist agenda when reassessed against the backdrop of postmodernist discourse. Once more, we are indebted to Starrs for his clear and concise analysis and attention to detail.' - Mark Williams, Chair, School of Modern Languages and Cultures, University of Leeds, UK

Spis treści

Acknowledgements Introduction: Modernity and Modernism in a Japanese Context PART I: CONSTRUCTING 'MODERNITY' AND 'TRADITION': MODERNISM AND ANTI-MODERNISM IN MEIJI JAPAN, 1868-1912 Constructing Meiji Modernity The Anti-Modernist Backlash: Constructing Meiji Tradition The Novel as Modernist Medium: Modernity and Anti-Modernity in Meiji Fiction PART II: HIGH MODERNISM AND THE FASCIST BACKLASH, 1912-1945 The Japanese Modernist Generation, 1912-1931 The Historical Context of Japanese Modernism The Legacy of Japonisme in Japan Itself Kawabata as Modernist and Anti-modernist PART III: THE RIVAL MODERNISMS OF POSTWAR JAPAN, 1945-1970 Modernist Missionaries: The Americans in Japan, 1945-1952 Japanese Responses to American Missionary Modernism The Occupation in Fiction French as an Alternative to American Modernism ?e Kenzabur?'s 'Ambiguous' Utopianism Responses from the Right: The Empire Strikes Back The Reactionary Modernism of Mishima Yukio PART IV: EMPTY AND MARVELLOUS: JAPAN IN THE 'POSTMODERN AGE', 1970-2010 Defining the 'Postmodern Condition' 'Postmodernity' in Japan National Culture and Identity in a 'Postmodern' Age A Goethean Conclusion Afterword: Japanese Modernism Today

O autorze

ROY STARRS teaches Japanese and Asian Studies at the University of Otago, New Zealand. He has published widely on Japanese literature, art and culture, including books on Yukio Mishima, Yasunari Kawabata and Naoya Shiga. He has also edited three books on Japanese and Asian nationalism and globalization. His edited book, Politics and Religion in Modern Japan: Red Sun, White Lotus, is forthcoming from Palgrave in 2011.