The Failure of Freedom: A Portrait of Modern Japanese Intellectuals

Tatsuo Arima

Published by Harvard University Press 1969

The Failure of Freedom

A Portrait of Modern Japanese Intellectuals

Tatsuo Arima

Volume 39 in the series Harvard East Asian Series

https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674280113

Overview
Contents

About this book

An excellent introduction to Japanese intellectual history in the first third of the twentieth century, this is a study of the intellectual atmosphere that made the development of a constitutional form of government difficult. As heirs to the Meiji Restoration, modern Japanese intellectuals were trapped by the historical paradox that modern Japan was born not so much of the victory of the new forces over the old, as of the skillful self-transformation of the old forces themselves. To reject parts of new Japanese society often meant to reject the whole of it.

Tatsuo Arima examines the period's philosophical and religious writings and the main literary figures and groups and their works and theories about literature. He finds a widespread anticonstitutional mentality and relates it to the intellectuals' political behavior. In particular, he analyzes the reasons why prewar Japanese intellectuals, who seemed to be so opposed to the rise of nationalism, took no socially effective action to prevent its emergence and subsequently became its victims.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
I. THE REVOLUTIONARY RESTORATION Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
II. UCHIMURA KANZŌ: THE POLITICS OF SPIRITUAL DESPAIR Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
III. THE ANARCHISTS: THE NEGATION OF POLITICS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	51
IV. JAPANESE NATURALISM: THE LIMITATIONS OF EXPERIENCE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	70
V. THE SHIRAKABA-HA: THE TYRANNY OF ART Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	99
VI. ARISHIMA TAKEO: BOURGEOIS CRITICISM Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	128
VII. AKUTAGAWA RYŪNOSUKE: THE LITERATURE OF DEFEATISM Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	152
VIII. PROLETARIAN LITERATURE: THE TYRANNY OF POLITICS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	173
CONCLUSION Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	214
NOTES Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221
BIBLIOGRAPHY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	259
GLOSSARY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	273
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	289

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Copyright year: 1969
Edition: Reprint 2013
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Front matter: 13
- Main content: 296
Keywords: Liberalism -- Japan; Intellectuals -- Japan; Japan -- Intellectual life

eBook

Published: October 1, 2013
ISBN: 9780674280113

Hardcover

Published: December 11, 2013
ISBN: 9780674280106