Ōe and Beyond: Fiction in Contemporary Japan

Published by University of Hawaii Press 1999

Ōe and Beyond

Fiction in Contemporary Japan

Edited by: Stephen Snyder and Philip Gabriel

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824863760

Overview
Contents

About this book

Are the works of contemporary Japanese novelists, as Nobel Prize winner Oe Kenzaburo has observed, "mere reflections of the vast consumer culture of Tokyo and the subcultures of the world at large"? Or do they contain their own critical components, albeit in altered form? Oe and Beyond surveys the accomplishments of Oe and other writers of the postwar generation while looking further to examine the literary parameters of the "Post-Oe" generation. Despite the unprecedented availability today of the work of many of these writers in excellent English translations, some twenty years have passed since a collection of critical essays has appeared to guide the interested reader through the fascinating world of contemporary Japanese fiction. Oe and Beyond is a sampling of the best research and thinking on the current generation of Japanese writers being done in English.

The essays in this volume explore such subjects as the continuing resonances of the atomic bombings; the notion of "transnational subjects"; the question of the "de-canonization" (as well as the "re-canonization") of writers; the construction (and deconstruction) of gender models; the quest for spirituality amid contemporary Japanese consumer affluence; post-modernity and Japanese "infantilism"; the intertwining connections between history, myth-making, and discrimination; and apocalyptic visions of fin de siecle Japan. Contributors pursue various methodological and theoretical approaches to reveal the breadth of scholarship on modern Japanese literature. The essays reflect some of the latest thinking, both Western and Japanese, on such topics as subjectivity, gender, history, modernity, and the postmodern.

Oe and Beyond includes essays on Endo Shusaku, Hayashi Kyoko, Kanai Mieko, Kurahashi Yumiko, Murakami Haruki, Murakami Ryu, Nakagami Kenji, Oe Kenzaburo, Ohba Minako, Shimada Masahiko, Takahashi Takako, and Yoshimoto Banana.

Contributors: Davinder L. Bhowmik, Philip Gabriel, Van C. Gessel, Adrienne Hurley, Susan J. Napier, Sharalyn Orbaugh, Jay Rubin, Atsuko Sakaki, Ann Sherif, Stephen Snyder, Mark Williams, Eve Zimmerman.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	v
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
INTRODUCTION Stephen Snyder and Philip Gabriel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. ŌE KENZABURŌ AND THE SEARCH FOR THE SUBLIME AT THE END OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY Susan J. Napier Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	11
2. THE ROAD TO THE RIVER: THE FICTION OF ENDŌ SHŪSAKU Van C. Gessel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	36
3. TEMPORAL DISCONTINUITY IN THE ATOMIC BOMB FICTION OF HAYASHI KYŌKO Davinder L. Bhowmik Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	58
4. DEMONS, TRANSNATIONAL SUBJECTS, AND THE FICTION OF OHBA MINAKO Adrienne Hurley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	89
5. DOUBLE VISION: DIVIDED NARRATIVE FOCUS IN TAKAHASHI TAKAKO’S YOSŌI SEYO, WAGA TAMASHII YO Mark Williams Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	104
6. IN THE TRAP OF WORDS: NAKAGAMI KENJI AND THE MAKING OF DEGENERATE FICTIONS Eve Zimmerman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	130
7. (RE)CANONIZING KURAHASHI YUMIKO: TOWARD ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVES FOR “MODERN” “JAPANESE” “LITERATURE” Atsuko Sakaki Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
8. MURAKAMI HARUKI’S TWO POOR AUNTS TELL EVERYTHING THEY KNOW ABOUT SHEEP, WELLS, UNICORNS, PROUST, ELEPHANTS, AND MAGPIES Jay Rubin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	177
9. EXTREME IMAGINATION: THE FICTION OF MURAKAMI RYŪ Stephen Snyder Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
10. DREAM MESSENGERS, RENTAL CHILDREN, AND THE INFANTILE: SHIMADA MASAHIKO AND THE POSSIBILITIES OF THE POSTMODERN Philip Gabriel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
11. ARGUING WITHT HEREAL: KANAI MIEKO Sharalyn Orbaugh Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245
12. JAPANESE WITH OUT APOLOGY: YOSHIMOTO BANANA AND HEALING Ann Sherif Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	278
CONTRIBUTORS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	303
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	305

Language: English
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 328

eBook

Published: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 9780824863760