From Library Journal
While this work of literary theory, which first appeared in Japanese in 1980, concentrates on the literature and thought of the 1980s, it challenges readers to reinterpret the literature of the entire Meiji Period (1868-1926) in six discrete essays plus a forward by Frederick Jameson and materials added for the English and paperback editions. Karatani (literature, Hosei Univ.) is at his most provocative when discussing the "discovery" of landscape in painting and literature as well as of the child as a human being. In his examinations of such important Meiji writers as Soseki, Kunidida Doppo, Tayama Katai, and Tsubouchi Shoyo, he offers insightful cultural criticism of subjects such as ethnography, religion, language, and modernity in the West and East. This far-reaching and bold reconsideration of Japanese literary history can be appreciated by scholars of modern thought and literature, above all those versed in Japanese studies.- D.E. Perushek, Univ. of Tennessee, KnoxvilleCopyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Book News, Inc.
Translation of the landmark work published ten years ago in Japan where it has played a pivotal role in defining discussion of modernity via a sweeping reinterpretation of 19th- and 20th-century Japanese literature. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.


Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Japanese

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Since its publication in Japan ten years ago, this book has become a landmark book, playing a pivotal role in defining discussions of modernity in that country. Against history of modern Asian critical theory, this first English publication is sure to have a profound effect on current cultural criticism in the West. It is both the boldest critique of modern Japanese literary history to appear in the postwar era and a major theoretical intervention, calling into question the idea of modernity that informs Western consciousness.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

While this work of literary theory, which first appeared in Japanese in 1980, concentrates on the literature and thought of the 1980s, it challenges readers to reinterpret the literature of the entire Meiji Period (1868-1926) in six discrete essays plus a forward by Frederick Jameson and materials added for the English and paperback editions. Karatani (literature, Hosei Univ.) is at his most provocative when discussing the ``discovery'' of landscape in painting and literature as well as of the child as a human being. In his examinations of such important Meiji writers as Soseki, Kunidida Doppo, Tayama Katai, and Tsubouchi Shoyo, he offers insightful cultural criticism of subjects such as ethnography, religion, language, and modernity in the West and East. This far-reaching and bold reconsideration of Japanese literary history can be appreciated by scholars of modern thought and literature, above all those versed in Japanese studies.-- D.E. Perushek, Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville

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