In the immediate postwar years, the body became an obsessive object of focus in Japanese fiction in both popular and high-brow novels. The freedom and carnal hedonism the representation of the body allowed contrasted starkly with the political ideology of wartime Japan. In a time when bodily needs were often suppressed the body served writers both as a symbol of physical toil and as a celebration of individual identity and freedom which flouted wartime censorship laws.Through an examination of the work of a number of prominent 20th Century Japanese writers, this book analyzes the meaning of the body in postwar Japanese discourse, the gender constructions of the imagery of the body and the implications for our understanding of individual and national identity. The contributors discuss the ideological and historical conception of the body and "nikutai bungaku" (literature of the body) in general before analyzing more specific themes including: The body as revolutionThe body as a tool to subvert militarist controlThe adaptable nature of the body and its role in fashioning identityThe body in relation to protest and celebrationDetailed analysis of the writings of Tamura Taijir*, Noma Hiroshi and Sakaguchi AngoAn analysis of the differences between male and female writing in the periodConcentrating on the literature produced between 1945 and 1960, this work highlights the varied uses and meanings of the human body in postwar Japanese fiction and its relationship to postwar and wartime society. It will be of interest to all students of modern Japanese literature.

Author: Slaymaker, Douglas
Publisher: Routledge Curzon
Illustration: N
Language: ENG
Title: Body in Postwar Japanese Fiction
Pages: 00000 (Encrypted PDF)
On Sale: 2004-01-08
SKU-13/ISBN: 9780415322256
Category: Social Science : General