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Article: Origins of Modern Japanese Literature.
- Article from:
- The Journal of the American Oriental Society
- Article date:
- April 1, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 American Oriental Society. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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This book, originally published as a series of essays between 1978 and 1980, attempts to undercut the standard account of the origins and development of modern Japanese fiction. According to that account, modern fiction in Japan derived from Western models and evolved in accord with an established pattern. In this Western-centered view of the subject, modern Japanese fiction inevitably followed a linear path towards "modernity" as defined by an imperialist culture.
Karatani sees modern Japanese fiction in an utterly different perspective. His strategy, which consists of applying a series of "inversions" or "reversals" to the standard view, can be breathtaking - but ...