Representing the Other in Modern Japanese Literature A Critical Approach [Paperback]

Representing the Other in Modern Japanese Literaturelooks 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.

Introduction  1. Hermes and Herm?s: Othernesses in Modern Japanese Literature  2. Meet Me on the Other Side: Strategies of Otherness in Modern Japanese Literature  Part 1: External Others  3. Who Holds the Whip? Power and Critique in Nagai Kafu's Tales of America  4. Foreign Bodies: 'Race', Gender and Orientalism in Tanizaki Jun'ichiro's The Mermaid's Lament  5. Self and Other in the Writings of Kajii Motojiro  6. Yokomitsu Riichi's Others: Paris and Shanghai  Part 2: Internal Others  7. Passing: Paradoxes of Alterity in The Broken Commandment  8. The Burakuminas Other in Noma Hiroshi's Circle of Youth  9. Sincerely Yours: Uno Chiyo's A Wife's l*