1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910808300803321

Autore

Hutchinson Rachael

Titolo

Nagai Kafū's occidentalism [[electronic resource] ] : defining the Japanese self / / Rachael Hutchinson

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Albany, [New York], : SUNY Press, c2011

ISBN

1-4384-3908-3

1-4619-0749-7

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (302 p.)

Disciplina

895.6/344

Soggetti

Civilization, Western, in literature

East and West in literature

Japan In literature

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front Matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Constructing the “West” -- Imagining Authenticity -- Positioning the Observer -- Occidentalism -- Resistance -- Conclusions -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Nagai Kafū (1879–1959) spent more time abroad than any other writer of his generation, firing the Japanese imagination with his visions of America and France. Applying the theoretical framework of Occidentalism to Japanese literature, Rachael Hutchinson explores Kafū's construction of the Western Other, an integral part of his critique of Meiji civilization. Through contrast with the Western Other, Kafū was able to solve the dilemma that so plagued Japanese intellectuals—how to modernize and yet retain an authentic Japanese identity in the modern world. Kafū's flexible positioning of imagined spaces like the "West" and the "Orient" ultimately led him to a definition of the Japanese Self. Hutchinson analyzes the wide range of Kafū's work, particularly those novels and stories reflecting Kafū's time in the West and the return to Japan, most unknown to Western readers and a number unavailable in English, along with his better-known depictions of Edo's demimonde. Kafū's place in Japan's intellectual history and his influence on other writers are also discussed.